#og story

[menofcolorswitchbodiesagain]

Part I of Shanghai Swap Meat is recoverd but Part II is still lost. I find it (the full story) please let me know.

[heartthumpnovel]

Heart Thump: Chapter 8

“It Came From Outer Space”

Word count: 10434

Buckle up folks, this is gonna be a long one. Just in time for October too! By the way the tag-list is at the end and if you want to be notified of new chapters coming out just let me know!

cw: Cursing/Swears, Blood, Violence, Absolute Jerks

Last Chapter: Growing Pains

Next Chapter: Kill the Director ---

Days off are the best, paid or not. If Natasha has a few more hours to decompress from the chaos at work, she’ll take it. Not only did it mean she didn’t have to put up with office bureaucracy, it also meant that she can run away from all of her conflicted feelings that haunt her daily though the most escapist artistic medium she knows; video games. 

Natasha adjusted her chic pastel sunglasses in the right-hand side mirror of her venom motorcycle to make absolutely sure they would not fall off and cause an accident. Though she asked herself if the sun hat and trendy trench coat were absolutely necessary. Then again, she couldn’t be too careful in this imperative operation and it was crucial that no one from work would recognize her. A perfect picture of the worst-case scenario made Natasha clutch the bismuth that hung from her necklace. If one of her peers or, god forbid, the higher-ups found out she was buying violent, gruesome video games, then she would be getting a severely negative performance review. That could lead back to her mother finding out. 

While it might have been more time efficient and socially safe to order her games online, she really needed to get some sunlight and despite the risk she was taking, going to browse the shops was a pass time she missed. Oh, to be a young baby goth that ate burrito bowls in the food court, and ran away from security for disturbing a Hot Topic. Those truly were the glory days, gone by too soon.

Enough reminiscing and making sure her fool-proof disguise didn’t fall apart, blood and glory called to her. Natasha locked up her bike and made her way to one of America’s dying ecosystems; the mall.

Right before she could enter the front doors of a preppy clothing shop that led into the interior halls, she had to awkwardly scoot around a mother trying to calm down her hysterical kid crying about a monster in the bushes. Avoiding that, she managed to get inside and make a beeline towards the doors that had led to the actual store fronts within the building. Disregarding the entirety of the early-winter selection, she was already fashionable enough, thank you very much. 

The weekend had brought in a decent crowd, though considering this mall was in a bustling city it wasn’t hurting for customers even on slow days. Natasha braced herself for the oncoming noise by putting in her earphones and stared upwards at the five stories from the bottom floor. She could barely make out the people in the sea of colorful brands and the cacophony of voices. It was a wonder, for Natasha, that the employees can stand this much commotion every single day. Perhaps she should be happy she gets to work her life away behind a desk.

In any case, that video game wasn’t going to buy itself. Natasha strode onto the crowded escalator. She tried to not bump into the group of rambunctious youths in front of her and held onto the rail with a tight grip. Trying to focus on the electronic beats that played in her ears, her fingers tapped down on the volume button to dial her music up to cover up the loud conversation between two older women behind her.

The trial of getting to the third floor was, for the most part, grueling. Stepping off the escalator almost felt like flying. With a skip in her step, she quickly made her way along the balcony, pulling her hat down to cover her eyes. Eye contact with others was not mandatory on her day off. Her attention was laser focused on trying to spot the store front she was so keen on finding. She was so dead set on getting to the game store that she-

“OOF! Hey, watch it!” scolded the teenager she accidentally bumped her shoulder into.

Natasha’s attention snapped back into place as she backed up with her hands raised. “Oh damn, sorry!” Natasha faltered apologetically, “You okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?” Her guts were already twisting in embarrassment as the glare the youth was giving her made her feel like she was the size of a mouse. 

After what felt like forever, the tension broke as the teen rolled his eyes and put his ear phone back into his head. “Nah I’m fine,” he said while brushing off his shoulder, “It’s all good, see ya’ miss.” As if Natasha didn’t just hurt him, he shrugged it off and moved on with his day. 

As he walked away, Natasha hung around for a moment to ponder, wondering why he didn’t tell her off for shoving him. She should have been paying attention to where she was going and not turn on autopilot like an idiot. Pain from her forearm snapped her out of it, she hadn’t noticed her own fingernails were gripping tightly into her flesh.

One enormous sigh later, she watched the carefree boy just stroll further away from her, and turned away when he stopped, seemingly preoccupied with something on the ground floor.

Oh, to be able to just let things go. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Natasha continued her journey to the game store, which wasn’t too far from that spot. This time, she kept her guard up, and made it to the storefront of her usual place. While it was more hole-in-the-wall than the franchised game store in the mall, it had much older games for sale. Plus, the prices were much more reasonable than more recent titles.

Her expectant grin dropped when she realized that the employee who usually was manning the store wasn’t there. This time, it was a guy she hadn’t seen before, who was just staring at his phone, leaning apathetically on the counter. She surmised it was probably his first day and thought to give him a kind impression. While she never had to work retail in her life, the horror stories she had heard gave her empathy for those working on the front lines in society. 

“Hello!” Natasha cheerfully said in a chipper demeanor as she strolled into the store, smiling at the employee who barely raised his head. When their eyes met, a chill went down her spine as she not only saw indifference, but annoyance. She couldn’t understand his grumble before looking back down at his phone.

Brushing off that warm welcome, Natasha just assumed he was already having a bad day, though she wondered to herself if she had laid on the introduction too thick. She made her way to the previous-gen console games and focused less on the employee’s coldness towards her. She had actual business to attend to. 

Picking though nostalgic titles was a walk in the park for her. Natasha simply just had to pick out something that wasn’t already in her collection, maybe even a duplicate copy with an alternate cover she hadn’t seen yet. Her pink push on nails hooked onto a few survival horror classics and pulled them into her hands as if she was an excited pre-teen again. She was having a great time sitting there on her knees, she hardly even noticed the sourpuss employee behind her making passive aggressive sighs. 

Once she had a good stack of games in her forearm, Natasha turned to see the employee still glued to his phone. It turned out that the hard part of her trip wasn’t just getting to the store, but checking out.

“Hello!” Natasha said as she approached the counter, though her excitement dimmed as she noticed the employee didn’t even notice her greeting. He had to have heard her, he wasn’t even wearing any earphones. After one awkward silence, she cleared her throat and spoke up again. “Excuse me,” Natasha said with a more firm tone in her voice, though she didn’t want to cause a scene, “I’d like to buy these please.”

The death glare the employee gave nearly made her jump, unfortunately she knew this look and the knots in her stomach twisted. She didn’t like where this conversation was heading. This guy looked down at her hands and rolled his eyes in disgust as he shoved his phone into his pocket. 

“Fine,” the cashier grumbled as he nearly tore the games out of Natasha’s hands. While she was taken aback from how rude this employee was being, she had hoped he’d do the bare minimum and just do his job without a fuss. Unfortunately, her hopes dropped when the cashier stared at the cover of each game she bought as he scanned them. He shook his head and just had to open his rotten mouth.

“Your boyfriend ain’t giving you enough attention huh?” the cashier said bluntly with a sick smirk on his face, “Does he even like these games?”

Wow. That’s how it’s going to be then?

Luckily, being in countless upper management roles had given her the skill of keeping a lid on striking out to offense. Though she gave the cashier an unbothered smile, a furious rage burned in her chest. He couldn’t have been serious. “Nah,” Natasha responded, “These are for me.”

“Suuree they are,” Cashier said, stopping mid-button press as he was ringing up the items, “These are outdated garbage, nobody plays shit like th-”

“Cool, are you going to just yap or do your job?” Natasha interrupted him, not even giving him the reaction he wanted as she calmly just searched through her purse for her wallet. That made the ostensible incel shut his mouth, his ballooning red face looked like it wanted to explode. To his credit, it looked like he had some idea that if he were to escalate, he would lose his paychecks indefinitely. He shoved the games into the cheap plastic bag and basically threw the bag onto the counter.

“Twenty four fifty,” he grunted with spittle hitting the register. He scowled, seeing Natasha smiling smugly as she tapped her card on the reader. Natasha couldn’t have been more happy when she got the receipt and shoved the bag into her purse. While it looked like she walked away completely unbothered by the cashier’s behavior, her knuckles paled as they gripped the purse’s strap. 

The words he said just replayed on a loop in her mind, almost driving her to tears. Why the hell did she have to be punished for just buying video games on the only time she could let loose? Her heartbeat pulsed loudly in her ears as her firm sense of justice became too raw to bear. Without realizing, one of her hands pulled harshly on the waist of her dress. A meltdown was approaching upon the horizon, however, she had to push the wave down. If she were to shed even a single tear, she could be in bigger trouble than that disgusting pig. It was all becoming all too much, Natasha needed an outlet before she- 

Ping!

Halfway out of the store, her phone notification went off. Natasha didn’t know why she did, but in the middle of storming out of her ruined sanctuary she checked her phone. It looked like someone left a message in the personal friend group chat. Upon opening it, her eyes lit up as she saw who it was from.

Atlas Gang Group ChatNovember 23rd @  1:00 pm

Jason: Hello! Sorry I have gone quiet for the past two weeks. Recovery has been a bit more rough than I expected. Good news though, I’m coming back to work monday! :)

Her grip loosened with a sigh of relief. It was about time, she really needed an ear to listen to her right then. Natasha lost contact with the reality happening around her as she tapped her nails onto the phone’s keyboard. 

Natasha: HEEEEYYY! :D Omg i’m so happy to hear! MAN you wouldn’t BELIEVE what just happened at the 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” screeched the pig’s voice.

Natasha’s head nearly spun off of her shoulders at the yelling, expecting to see an angry cashier confronting her. However, he seemed to stare in absolute horror at something beyond her shoulder. A rattling sound right behind her became apparent with an unnatural chill that made the hair on the back of her neck stand. She held her breath as she hesitantly turned her head to face… it.

Natasha’s day-off just got a whole lot worse. 

[Image Description: Natasha is face-to-face with a large monster that resembles an anthropomorphic  dinosaur that is made out of stone and glowing crystal. It is “drooling” and staring her down.] ---

Natasha: HEEEEYYY! :D Omg i’m so happy to hear! MAN you wouldn’t BELIEVE what just happened at the 

Jason: ??? Nat?

Jason had been staring down at the cut off message for about a minute, wondering why she didn’t finish what she was saying. Though he couldn’t ponder for long as a grating voice snapped him out of it.

“Yo what about LONDON TOWER?? EHHHHHH?” Motor gleefully suggested as he was flipping through the clearance costumes in the back of the clothing store.

Jason just gave him a tired stare and pressed the side button on his phone in order to put it to sleep. “You realize I’ve been an American citizen for six years now, right?” Jason said, “And for the last time, I will not be a masked vigilante, it’s literally illegal.” While it might have been too late, Jason had concluded that it was an absolute blunder to reach out to Motor for help. 

The original deal was to just go shopping for plaster to fix his ceiling and get used to controlling that pesky curse in public. Jason had to go back to work at some point as rent would not pay itself. At first it seemed nice to go out shopping after a whole two weeks inside, however, it quickly became apparent that the goal of their trip had changed from getting his life back together to picking out tacky Halloween costumes. Long after October.

“Oh come on Jason,” Motor said, “Don’t you know that great power comes with great responsibility?” He quoted that as if he was some professional historian, finger raised and all. 

“I am being responsible,” Jason answered as he folded his arms, “By keeping this thing under wraps and not breaking the law.” His gaze turned to the ultra cheap costumes around them, feeling a sense of embarrassment from the mere thought of wearing tight leggings and a wonky mask.

“Bro what the hell is the point of having a superpower and not usin’ it?” Motor asked as he held up a black jumpsuit towards Jason to compare sizes. The office worker shifted his glare to the jumpsuit and shoved it away. 

“It’s not a- ugh,” Jason grumbled as his palm hit his forehead, “I just need to learn to be normal again, nothing more.” He turned away from Motor with his arms crossed, his ears red with boiling fury. 

“Being normal sucks,” Motor retorted as he turned his back to throw the jumpsuit improperly onto the hangers, “Besides, it ain’t gonna kill ya to have a disguise for when you get a growth spurt.” Motor continued to clank through more clearance costumes on the hangers while pouting. Jason on the other hand, wasn’t going to bother to humor the nerd with his bizarre fantasies. Though if Jason had to concede anything to Motor, he had a point about needing to hide his identity in case it happens. All it could take was one escaping thought to cause a terrible scene and a call to the United States military. 

Perhaps, he could hide somewhere when he felt the butterflies coming on, or maybe just drop that silly crush on Natasha. Though the former was easier said than done. Suddenly Jason shook his head vigorously, realizing that he was treading dangerous waters if he were to dwell on his feelings for her any further. Looking for a distraction, Jason glanced over at the clearance table with all sorts of Halloween masks that weren’t lucky enough to be sold during the holiday they were made for. He reached out and picked up a bright white ski mask with wiring connected to it. Seeing the wires attached to the mouthpiece and the small battery pack on the other end made him realize it had a voice changer.

With his curiosity satiated, Jason was about to place it back down onto the table to check out the other masks in the meantime. Before he could get the chance to, both of the men heard a loud screech from the shopping mall entrance. They looked at each other confused, though did not say a single word as a crowd of mall shoppers ran into the clothing store and sprinted to the building’s exit. 

Grimly, Jason assumed that they had ended up in a situation that Americans are unfortunately too familiar with. Just as Jason was going to join the crowd to run from the apparent threat, a large hand that grabbed his shoulder stopped him. 

“Motor what the bloody hell are you doing!?” Jason shouted before he was dragged down to hide behind the hangers with the janitor. Motor promptly shushed him and Jason stared at him, wondering what was going through Motor’s head now.

“I didn’t hear a gunshot,” Motor whispered as they huddled behind the costumes, “Did you?” Now that he thought about it, a gun surely would have been fired by now if it caused this much of a panic. “I didn’t,” Jason confirmed, attempting to peek through the costumes to watch more people run, “But whatever it is, we shouldn’t be standing around to find out.”

In order to figure out exactly what the panic was about, Jason focused his new hearing towards the groups of people hustling to get to safety. Though what he heard cleared nothing up at all.

“Run for your lives!”

“WHAT WAS THAT THING!?”

“Lucy, come on baby! We’re almost outside!”

“I’m not making it up!! It’s HUGE guys!”

“Think I saw it chasing some lady, this is our chance!!”

It had left him with more questions than answers. They couldn’t have been talking about him as he was nowhere near the scene of the crime and the last he checked was his normal height. But, if the involuntary giant was with Motor, then what the hell else could they be referring to? Motor himself seemed to tune in the best he could. With his curly bangs covering his eyes, Jason found it hard to decipher if Motor had come to his senses yet. Nevertheless, someone had to use their common sense at that moment, and it sure would not be Motor. 

“L-let’s get out of here,” Jason shuddered as he turned to Motor, and witnessed one of the most horrifying things imaginable to him. A dark brown eye pierced through Motor’s bangs had its full attention completely focused on the little office rat. That sizzling stare burned into Jason’s mind as it was the telling sign of a reckless idea being born with full immunity to doubt.

“Jason,” Motor said, “Someone is in deep shit right now and needs your help.”

Hearing the unexpected serious tone Jason had thought Motor could never possibly possess, his face turned completely pale as he began to involuntarily shiver. Shaking his head, Jason tried to mutter out excuses though his disbelief. “Wh-what?!” Jason squealed, “I-I can’t do anything about this, we should get somewhere safe-”

A harsh, jamming finger into his sternum which took Jason’s breath away. “You have the power,” Motor argued, “Are you just gonna run away to do the safe thing, or the right thing?” 

This was one of those rare times where Jason could peek behind Motor’s bangs and saw those judgemental eyes stare deep into his soul. His resolve crumbled, unsure what the correct answer had to be in this situation. Never in his life he was depended on like this and merely asking something like this crushed Jason. “I… I can’t-” Jason sputtered, unable to give a simple reply as his scared eyes stared back at Motor. 

His fingers gripped into the plastic of the mask he had been holding onto.

“...Oh- oh bugger.”

---

Natasha’s shoes skidded as she sprinted around the corner, not bothering to look behind her as she heard a storefront’s windows shatter. Unfortunately, this didn’t buy the time that Natasha wanted. In the matter of seconds, the pursuit continued as if the thing didn’t just tumble through a wall of glass. 

The unnatural footfalls of the towering thing grew louder as it rapidly gained ground towards Natasha, who had burst into a full on sprint for her life. Her mind still held the glimpse of that living art school project and the unidentifiable wet substance that dripped from its claws. Out of everyone else in the mall, it had its eyes dead set on the prey it picked to give chase. Natasha wasn’t sure why, but this wasn’t the time to stop to ask questions. 

Her feet hit the laminated floors as her chest burned with every quick breath. 

She thanked herself for not going with the low-heels today instead choosing her casual white tennis shoes. It had done her a favor in running away from the ghastly creature behind her. 

Natasha’s skin raised goosebumps from the frigid breath tracing the back of her neck.

To her horror, she found they were heading towards the end of the floor that had nothing but a white plastered wall that had spelled out a grim fate for her. Natasha only had a couple of seconds to look around for a way out, as death trailed at her heels. At that moment, she saw the escalator which was devoid of people. Suddenly, the inner urge of her rebellious days long past called to her.

She acted upon it.

In one swift skip, she jumped onto the escalator railing and had dodged a swing from the beast, her backside landed on the rail. Swiftly, she slid down the railing, freedom blowing through her pink curls. Pure glee rushed through her heart, however it was brief as she attempted to hop off of the rail. 

Natasha was rudely reminded that she wasn’t fifteen anymore as she tumbled a few feet and didn’t make the graceful landing as planned. With a yelp, she fell onto her side and ended up rolling on to her back. Her trendy glasses broke in half on the floor and her hat floated into the mall’s koi fish pond.

Just before she could even think about getting up, its claws slammed right along her shoulders. The crackle of laminate filled her ears and the chilled breathing sunk into her spine. Before she could even register it, she had been caught.

“No no NO NO NO!!” Natasha croaked, “Not like this!” Pleading seemed to just bounce off the beast as it drew closer to her face, making no noise other than its scrapes on the tile floor. She tried to get up, push it away or anything, but her limbs were tired from running. Everything shut down as the end grew closer. The adrenaline pumping through her veins had blinded her to the mascara dripping off her face and how her throat had become hoarse from screaming.

Regrets sprouted from the depression her mind had cultivated. She should have stuck with her musical passions instead of safe corporate work. Maybe even sucked it up and just tried to ask Jason out on a date. Man, calling her ma first from time to time wouldn’t have hurt. Did she really need to pick up these video games today?

The blinding maw was open wide, and she would soon find her fate to be a cruel one. Her eyes closed shut, ready for the end.

“H-h-hey, y-you there!”

The icy grasp of death suddenly released, and Natasha heard a deep voice give a frightened screech. “Leave her al-AAAH!” Yelled the voice, “Bloody h-hell what are you!?” 

Natasha felt the overbearing presence above her shuffle away and she felt safe enough to open her eyes to see what brave idiot was dumb enough to get its attention. Turning her head she saw a guy, who began to slowly retreat. He looked like he ran out of ideas for a Halloween costume; dressed in all black clothing that covered just about everything except his face, which was covered by a knock-off slasher hockey mask.

Natasha could tell right away that he bit off more than he could chew, especially since he wasn’t even holding anything to defend himself with. She could only push herself up as she witnessed the stranger take shaky steps away from the approaching monstrosity.

“U-Uhm, sorry that was rude of me wasn’t it?” The stuttering stranger spoke, his voice became hoarse with fear, “See, you’re causing a huge ruckus and hurting people, d-do you understand what you’re doing?”

It towered over the skinny man. The full height of this thing had to have been almost twice as big as him. Even if the creature didn’t have long crystalline claws and a mouth a dentist would faint at, the idiot had no chance. While it was hard to gauge from where Natasha was prone, she could tell the pleads from behind the guy’s mask had not gotten through to that thing at all. An attempt to peacefully negotiate had been done in vain.

Natasha pulled herself up off of the ground and leaned forward to get a better look as she debated if she should make a run for it. While it would have been the safer option, she thought it cruel to leave this guy alone with that B-movie abomination. One glance was all it took for her to notice that they were the only ones in the mall, and she didn’t hear sirens. Worst of all, she saw the monster slowly lower its arms and bend its legs, just as if it was about to pounce on the shivering man who obviously froze in fear.

“Hey!” Natasha shouted, “Watch out!!”

The masked figure’s head jerked towards her direction, followed by a surprised gasp as he visibly was taken aback by her presence. Natasha could not even comprehend what happened next. She had to have been trapped in a nightmare conjured by her anxieties and caffeine overdose. In one blink, the masked stranger’s height lurched upwards, and he had gained an unexpected height advantage over the monster. Visibly cold vapor hissed through its ‘skin’ as it backed away, if only for a moment. From what Natasha could tell, the stranger didn’t expect this change either as he looked down to investigate his hands with a shaking head. Though the match up changed quite a bit, the monster had already lowered itself, disregarding the change entirely.

Unfortunately, the now-giant man didn’t notice it pouncing on top of him until it was already too late. The only thing he could do was to flinch backwards to stop the thing from slicing his head off, but alas, the glowing, blade-like claws scraped down his arm. A pained shriek rang out before a slam in the chest interrupted the man as the creature barged into him. Blood dripped onto the laminate floor as he shoved the beast aside with both arms. The stoney creature fell under its own momentum into an abandoned hot dog stand. Natasha stood up onto her feet, still trying to process the scene unfolding in front of her. This seemed to be a chance to get away from the insanity she’d had been thrown into, through her wet eyes locked on to the wounded giant. He had looked back at her, she could see his dilated pupils as he held his trembling arm. The stranger then dashed towards her direction.

Natasha backed away, preparing to make a run for but found herself cemented to the floor. To her horror she spotted the creature getting up from the greasy remains from the stand as if it was nothing. The fear upon her face caused the giant to look over his shoulder to see what she was gawking at.

That is, until he tripped over the edge of the koi pond and fell right into it.

Water splashed about and turned red from the blood seeping out of the masked giant’s wound. He had a rather difficult time getting out of the water, unfortunately, the creature had seen this and made a slow stride to collect his head. Tiles cracked under its weight as it approached the fountain, looking down at the incapacitated giant who was struggling with his pain. 

However, before it could leap onto the masked man, one of its feet landed on a stray puddle. Immediately it yanked itself back with a loud hiss as vapor rose from the affected foot. From where Natasha was standing, she could see the obsidian-like skin under its foot dull into an ugly gray and the light leave the pulsing blue crystals. Within the pond, the masked giant scrambled, not realizing the creature had halted its pursuit and wobbled back up to his feet. He leaped from the pond clumsily and tried to run past Natasha as if she wasn’t even there. As it didn’t want its prey to get away that easily, it readied itself and leaped across the pond as if it was nothing. The beast slammed down onto the other side despite it limping on its poor foot and made a bloodthirsty dash towards the wounded giant. Natasha took a step away from the scene, nearly slipping on ice. “WOA- huh!?” Natasha yelped as she saw that the spots where the monster had been had been frozen completely with the puddles becoming black ice. Remembering some parts of her highschool chemistry class, an idea sprouted from her mind. Her attention went back to the fight as she heard a loud clash.

The masked giant had grabbed a plushie stand and rammed it into the beast to stop its chase. While that idea might have worked out, the creature knew better as it grabbed the stand by the sides of it. Large bright teeth emerged from its gaping maw and it snapped its mouth in the middle of the stand, including an unlucky teddy bear. The stand had been torn in half to the giant’s horror and it didn’t take long for the beast to leap from the remains of the stand. A loud thump echoed across the empty mall’s lobby upon impact. Natasha saw the beast’s arms slam down against the giant man and pin him to the floor. She shivered, knowing that what that brave moron was seeing was that eldritch gullet. His screams then snapped her out of her inaction. She couldn’t just stand there and let an innocent… man? Die. Not because of her.

Quickly, her eyes darted around the mall, trying to see anything she could use to save his life. Her desperate mind then spotted the fire hose box across from where she was standing. Natasha made a bolt for it as the beating continued.

“AA- St-AH! Get-” The giant stammered as claws slashed into his chest, though an unexpected roar came from him. “GET THE FUCK OFF!!” He yelled as his good arm swung from the side and plowed into the predator’s head. It reeled back in agony, its growls sound less like an animal and more like crumbling glass. No longer was it holding him down as it held the side of its face, though it still was in grabbing distance from the giant man. The time to intervene was now, or more regrets would follow her.

The door to the fire hose box slammed open, and she tugged the end of the hose out of its roll. The beast made a deep rumbling noise as it glared down at its exhausted opponent with its blazing blue sockets. Before it could lash out at him once more, a daring human caught it off guard by jumping in between them.

“HEY UGLY!” Natasha yelled, hose ready in her hands, “WHERE’S YOUR RAINCOAT?!”

[Image Description: From the point of view of the monster, Natasha is spraying a fire hose at it while yelling. The quote “Random guy” on the floor is staring at her in amazement/fear for her safety.]

The water spouted from the nozzle and drenched its face completely. Vapor poured from the graying skin from the beast as it writhed in agony from the water pouring into every crack along the surface. It scattered away from the onslaught but it was already too late for it to run, as its feet twitched for the last time before they froze completely. Pieces of its arms withered and crashed onto the floor. To what Natasha could guess was a scream, it had made a loud engine like roar before the light from its eye sockets dimmed. 

From a creature made of crystal, it stayed a mere frail stone statue for only a couple of seconds as the pieces of it cracked onto the tiles, and what remained was a pile of rocks with its vapors dissipating into the air.

Nothing but quiet running water filled the mall lobby.

A clatter of a fallen hose's nozzle followed the moment of silence that was shared between the two of them in the lobby. If she wasn’t on high alert from the impossibly giant man behind her, Natasha felt like she could collapse onto the floor into her favorite fetal position for a mental breakdown. Her dim wine eyes held a haunting staring contest with the frozen remains of the thing that almost ended both of their lives. However, it was cut short as her shoulder jumped from the loud groan behind her. The winds of movement brushed against her back, causing her to turn around to face him.

Now that she didn’t have to worry about meeting her maker early, Natasha had a better look at her terrifying rescuer. It was as if he was a slasher villain that escaped his own B-movie. He had just about everything; The black clothing, emotionless hockey mask, incredibly imposing height and what she could see, his squinting eyes staring daggers at her. Despite his appearance however, the giant could only barely sit himself up and was clutching his chest, hissing in pain from the beating he took. Too many questions ran through her mind to pick which one she should ask first. Since she couldn’t find the words, the giant used his own. 

“Uhm.. you alright?” he asked softly, his hands trembling.

“I-I guess,” Natasha finally answered with a dry mouth, “Should be asking you that.” She pointed at his chest, however her eyes gazed over the torn sleeve that revealed a rather nasty wound. 

The giant’s head followed her finger and he slowly unclenched his hands, shaking and definitely had his blood on them. Even with a deep voice, he uttered a squeal upon seeing the deep scratch on his forearm and pulled it close to his chest. Natasha attempted to lean a little to get a better look, however he pulled it away from her view. 

“O-oh that?” he spoke, chuckling nervously through his strained voice, “It’s just a scratch, no big deal haha…” Even with his eyes hiding behind the black mesh within the mask, Natasha could tell that he was looking away from her desperately. Dude looked like a serial killer, but he acted like a puppy who’s paw got accidentally stepped on.

“You sure?” Natasha insisted as she reached her hand out timidly to him, “We should get that wrapped up atle-”

Before she could finish, wind knocked Natasha back as the giant jumped back up to his feet. Thankfully, she managed to not fall over, though her heart rate multiplied seeing him reach his full height. Even while he was hunching over his obvious wound, her stomach dropped as he was tall enough to punt her like a football if he wanted to. 

“That won’t be necessary!” he said, “I’ll just go and clean it… out…” The giant paused in his spiel, unintentionally looming over the shivering woman. Standing within his shadow, that survival instinct re-gained the hold of her heart. A tiny voice in her mind tried to remind her he had just saved her life, however she did not like the way he was staring her down.

“You’re adorable,” he finally spoke. 

“E-excuse me!?” Natasha yelled, unsure if she had misheard him.

“AH- I mean,” the giant clumsily backpedaled as he waved his hands, “Sorry! You’re just so small now.” 

Dread crawled up her spine as it felt like his examination was piercing through her. Natasha shuffled away from him as tears welled up in her eyes. “Y-you’re goddamn huge,” Natasha whimpered as she grabbed the sides of her fizzled hair, “Ain’t no way this is actually happening to me right now...”

As if a switch flipped, the giant perked up and put hands down gently, backing up to give her space. “Oh, bugger!” the giant pleaded, “I forgot I’m… this.” His sigh flickered through the audio processor in the mask, looking away from her and drifting his eyes to the ruined pond.

He began talking again, though Natasha couldn’t exactly hear what he was saying over the loud thoughts crashing into her head. Ringing in her ears deafened her as everything about this situation had just seeped in. This wasn’t normal. Her fingers became numb and suddenly it became harder to breathe. She almost died. She could have died. 

Natasha was staring into her muddled reflection of the cracked laminate floor, not even hearing anything rather than the noise popping in her ears and her own sobbing.

Why did life have to be so cruel?

A droopy hat pushed her out of her spiral as it suddenly filled her vision. Natasha blinked and realized it wasn’t just any hat, it was her hat that fell into the pond. Though soaked through and tinted red on some of the edges. Her shaking hands reached up to grab the sides of it and looked up. The giant had been holding her hat in one of his hands while kneeling to her as if he was some dashing knight. Their eyes met for the first time, yet it felt so familiar.

“You deserve better than this Natasha.” He spoke with as much warmth as he could with an artificially deepened voice. While this gesture would have been sweet, charming even given the circumstances, the calm Natasha felt flickered out as his hand suddenly doubled in size. She couldn’t help screaming loudly from the sudden growth spurt as his entire being grew bigger right in front of her. He’d let go of the hat at this point, startled by her outburst and stood up in order to give her space. There wasn’t much clearing he could give, considering his back had bumped into the balcony of the second floor. The hot dog stand’s remains also had to get a word in as one of his shoes slipped on spilled grease, which caused him to fall back down onto the mall’s tiles. The sound of the cracking floor followed as Natasha backed herself into a pillar opposite of the walking disaster.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry I didn’t mean to-” the giant tried to plead to the sobbing woman who had already been through enough that day. However, his attempt at smoothing things over was interrupted by a yell that came from down further into the lobby.

“Yo, did you show that thing who’s boss-” Motor shouted as he ran towards the scene, though his jog turned into a full on sprint as he saw who had become a sobbing mess, “NATASHA! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

Light returned to Natasha’s eyes, and didn’t waste any time running towards her best friend. Upon impact with Motor’s large frame, she squeezed him in a tight hug as she wept. Of course Motor returned the favor with a hug, though spiked a glare at the disruptive man taking up a quarter of the mall’s first floor.

“Man, I have never been happier to see you!” Natasha wailed as she pulled away from him with her hands on his arms, “This gotta be a nightmare right!?”

“Uuhhh,” Motor said, his eyes quickly checking Natasha for any signs of injuries, “You alright?”

“NO I’M NOT ALRIGHT!” Natasha shouted, her hyperventilating returning as she gripped the sides of her frizzled pink hair. Though Motor put a stop to that with a chapped hand on her shoulder.

“Breathe sis,” Motor said, herding Natasha to follow him out, “Let’s get you out of here.” Natasha kept her head down as she gripped the brim of her hat. She didn’t want to look at the chaotic scene around her anymore and just wanted to wake up in her bedsheets . However, their walk outside was halted as Motor looked over his shoulder at the quiet giant. 

“Hey big guy!” he yelled, “You might want to get out of here, I saw the feds getting ready to raid the place, the back entrance is clear!” Natasha couldn’t see it, but she heard a loud grumble behind them and felt the vibrations through the floor.

“Thanks… kind stranger,” the giant retorted, moving towards the other direction on his hands and knees. She heard him mumble ‘ows’ and sounds of struggle against concrete.

Curiosity got the better of her and she turned her head to look back at the giant. Her large rescuer was attempting to shove himself underneath a balcony and into the alcove that had the mall’s back exit. Though he wasn’t having much luck trying to crawl into it on the account of the fact that he was basically two stories tall. He sighed, turning back, and their gazes had once again met. His eyes were hazel. That flame of similarity was still there, despite everything. The only thing Natasha could muster was a small flap of her hand before being shown the door.

What a terrible day off this was.

---

“You people are worthless,” Blaire slammed the police car’s door shut as she was reprimanding a small group of quivering officers. One of the piglets, the one who gave the news to the government operative, stuttered in his words as he fiddled with his belt.

“Ma’am, you need to understand that the claims made about the situation were not believable,” he said, sweating bullets from the stare down he was receiving from Blaire, “How were we supposed to realize that the reports of an actual monster rampaging at the mall were credible calls?” The soul nearly left his body when a finger jabbed into his chest, nearly stabbing through his bullet-proof vest.

“Prank or not you should have sent SOMEONE to the scene!” Blaire shouted, her gaze burning up the officer’s will to protest, “Lives could’ve been lost for Christ's sake!” The officer only nodded his head like a dog as she removed her finger with the world’s heaviest eye roll. As it seemed like the day would not get any better from there, Blaire shoved a hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out her sliver lighter. “You’re all lucky my people arrived in Seattle before this shit show,” Blaire said as she was fishing out a cigarette, “Keep away the press and uninvolved civilians, tell them nothing, and let us handle the rest.”

Blaire didn’t waste the rest of her breath and carried herself with purpose into the frantic parking lot. Ambulance sirens backdropped the chaotic parking lot, as her agents attempted to keep the witnesses from asking too many questions to prevent the situation from boiling over. Knowing today was going to be a long one, Blaire lit her cigarette and took a deep puff while surveying the scene unfolding before her. It didn’t take long for her to hear fast paced footsteps trail behind and an unconfident voice spoke up.

“Uhm- Ms. Witch?” A woman dressed as if it was her first day at a clerk job said, fumbling a tablet to her chest, “I have the diagnostics ready for you.” Blaire didn’t bother to look back at her and kept on walking closer to the mall’s building. “Walk with me,” Blaire ordered. The girl picked up her pace and started going through the notes she had written on the tablet while trying to not make direct eye contact with her superior. 

“Sweep is already almost done collecting all the samples from the entity within a mile radius, and there have been no reported casualties from the initial incident,” stated the informant as she struggled to keep up, “They’re currently trying to figure out how to handle transporting the samples without them merging.”

That confirmed what Blaire had been suspecting when she read that light-weight documentation. The few experiments that had been conducted so far concluded that the alien mineral is strongly magnetic to many common metals, but especially magnetic to itself; the separate chunks seemed to fuse together on contact. She wasn’t even sure if ‘magnetic’ described this peculiar attraction appropriately.

Blair’s eyes landed on the torn open doors of the front entrance. “I’m assuming it’s been terminated,” Blaire said as she took another drag.

The new hire’s fingers tapped on her tablet as she bit her lip, “Yes?” she hesitantly answered, “Though Sweep have just found out water can completely neutralize the lifeform.” Blaire stopped in her tracks, causing a collision between her and the clumsy young woman as she smacked into her back. The informant stepped away quickly and sputtered out an apology. “Oh, my gosh I-I’m so sorry-” 

“Nevermind that,” Blaire said as she turned around to face her with raised eyebrows, “What do you mean they just found out that water kills it? Why wasn’t this anywhere on the documents?”

“Well uh, I-I guess no one bothered to try? I don’t know ma’am,” the informant continued, “It’s been confirmed that the entire structure of the entity has a terminal reaction upon coming into contact with water.”

“Huh, well I’ll be,” Blaire responded as she tapped the burnt bit of her cigarette, “The bastards are invading the wrong planet, huh?”

“Actually, ma’am we can’t confirm sapience or intent at the moment,” the informant flipped through the reports, “Witnesses stated it was mindlessly rampaging during the entire event.”

“Same could be said of the military to be honest,” Blaire bluntly said as she watched a small crowd of teenagers being rounded up for questioning, “So, which group was able to terminate the thing? Sweep? Police? Or God forbid, Mall security?”

“About that…” the Informant said hesitantly with her eyes traveling to her feet, “It had been neutralized… by a civilian, ma’am.”

“Is that so?” Blaire asked, now giving full eye contact to the informant as the cigarette in her hand was gripped, “Who is it?”

The informant’s hand pointed towards an ambulance several meters away with a small team of EMTs tending to a pink-haired woman curled in a foil blanket. Nearby there was a tall shaggy man loudly arguing with a couple of her agents. “Those two were the only ones who know what happened to it,” the Informant clarified, “Though there is also-”

Before the informant could say anything else, Blaire dropped her cigarette onto the ground and dug in her heel to snuff it out. “Begin a Hamilton stratagem,” Blaire ordered as she strode towards the ambulance, “There was a severe gas leak that caused mass hysteria, delete any evidence to the contrary and administer amnestics if witnesses prove uncooperative.”

“But- but ma’am there’s something else you need to-” The informant didn’t get to finish as her higher up was already pushing her way through the crowd to get to that woman. 

Upon the EMTs and agents realizing who had the audacity to interfere, they let the Witch through to the back of the ambulance where the lady in pink was sitting. At first glance, she did not seem to be the type to get into any sort of fight. She was hunched over as her knuckles were death gripping the blanket. One could only imagine what she saw with her petrified gaze that was staring into the parking lot asphalt.

Reality had been torn apart for this poor girl, soon enough Blaire will sew it right back up like nothing happened. Before that though, she needed that first hand information before it was lost. “Excuse me,” Blaire spoke up, pulling out her FBI badge from her pocket. The woman didn’t seem to hear her the first time, so she tried again. 

“Excuse me,” Blaire restated, “Miss?”

“Those eyes…” The woman mumbled under her breath, still unresponsive to anything Blaire was saying. That was until a pair of fingers snapping right in front of her face yanked her back to the present. “HUH- Oh!” she yelped, finally realizing that someone was trying to talk to her, “Sorry! Uh, can I help you?”

“Yes actually,” Blaire said, flashing one of her trusty badges, “Agent Mansley, I'm with the FBI and I’m here to confirm a few things with you if I may?” That scared doe-look upon the woman’s face melted into an icy stare as she looked away from Blaire. “I already talked to the cops,” she grumbled, “Why do you gotta talk to me? Not like you’ll take it seriously either.”

Of course, the local police force seemed to once again muddle her investigation with their less than lackluster civilian relations.

“Because I want to hear it coming from a reputable source,” Blaire said as she crossed her arms, “It will only be a few questions and after that we’ll take care of you, miss…?”

The woman looked back at Blaire with full eye contact, keeping her walls up with skepticism. Despite having come out of Hell completely frazzled, she pulled out a mask of confidence with a deadpan expression. “Maryham,” she answered as she pushed some of her pink hair strands behind her ear, “Natasha Maryham.”

Filling that name in the back of her mind for later, Blaire lent out a hand to Natasha. As if on instinct, she had reciprocated with a very firm handshake only a corporate rung manager could give. “A pleasure to meet you Natasha,” Blaire said, “Promise this won’t take too much of your time, I’m sure you are very busy today.”

“Actually, this was my day off,” Natasha responded as her hands traveled onto her lap and fiddled with her sundress, “Wished I was working, in hindsight.”

“I can only imagine,” Blaire lied, pulling out her trusty pen and flipbook, “What happened?”

The mask slipped as it took Natasha more than a minute to gather her thoughts coherently just as expected. Having a few false starts with mumbling, Though when the witness could warm up to recount her terrible day, Blaire was surprised at the details this shaken person was able to give of the entire ordeal.

“I-I was in one of the stores shopping, ya know, as you do,” Natasha explained as her eyes drifted back to the asphalt, “And all of a sudden this… thing jumped out of nowhere, I guess it had a problem because it tried to kill me!”

“What did ‘that thing’ look like?” Blaire asked, her eyes taking a knowing glance at the bismuth dangling from her neck.  

Natasha gripped the side of her head, fingers twirling through her curls. “I-I don’t even know how to put it,” she said, “You know claymation? Animated clay figures and stuff?” 

“I’ve seen Wallace and Gromit before,” Blaire answered with a smirk, attempting to make eye contact with her. Though no matter how much she tried, this one seemed to evade her gaze. Not on purpose however.

“Sort of like that but,” she said, “It-it was like someone messed up making a dinosaur or something- and… uhm. Teeth. Lots of teeth.” Through her recounting of its appearance, her breath became staggered, and she heaved every breath. The woman coiled her hair around her fists, tighter and tighter, threatening to tear the hair out at the root. Blaire took it upon herself to hover a comforting hand over Natasha’s shoulder, not quite touching her.

It took only a moment for Natasha, who was just about to break into more tears, to look over at the offered hand and shake her head silently. The hand retracted, letting the woman’s tears shed for a long minute. Sniffling, Natasha wiped her eyes, the ruined mascara smearing upon her arm before she turned to the agent once again. 

“That ain’t even the craziest part,” Natasha mumbled, her eyes traveling to find the words to explain, “When it… cornered me, some guy in a hockey mask got its attention.”

Blaire raised an eyebrow at this. She glanced back over to the large man that started to have a rather loud debate with one of her agents, noting the lack of a mask. Sure, it was rare that someone would play hero in situations like this, though it wasn’t impossible. Certainly wouldn’t be unwelcome. However, why didn’t the informant mention another witness at the scene? “This masked man saved you?” Blaire asked as she turned back to her interviewee, Natasha nodded.

Just as Natasha opened her mouth to continue explaining, Blaire asked another unprompted question. “Can you give me a description of him?” Blaire questioned as she actually wrote in her notepad, “I want to get information from him as well.”

“That’s the thing,” Natasha said, fingers fumbling, “He’s gone and, I-I don’t know how to put this but, he uh, wasn’t normal.”

Blaire looked up from her writing, staring at Natasha who seemed to be completely cognisant and stared right back at her. “Care to elaborate Ms. Maryham?” Blaire asked.

“If I told you that the guy grew ten feet tall, would you think I’m seeing things too?” Natasha responded, this time giving the agent full eye contact. Perhaps to see how Blaire was going to react, as if she expected the same brush off response the cops had given her. During her years of working for FAIRA, she’d become accustomed to finding the difference between people making stuff up for attention, figments of their imagination and the people that have actually seen something they shouldn’t have.

Just by the look in Natasha’s eyes, she definitely fell into the latter and that was a problem.

The EMT, who was standing by the two chatting, covertly waved a small vial of blood at Blaire’s direction. Question time was coming to an end and while there were a few more loose ends she’d like to tie up, she had a job to do. Closing the notebook, Blaire feigned confusion and asked, “Are you positive that’s what you saw?”

What light that was left in Natasha’s eyes dissipated, turning back to watch the pavement. “Knew you weren’t gonna believe me.” Natasha muttered, disappointed but not surprised. Keeping up with the act, Blaire gave a quick nod to the EMT and let him get Natasha’s attention.

“Sorry to interrupt,” the EMT said, “Ma’am we’re gonna need to get you on oxygen, we’ve detected carbon monoxide in your bloodstream.”

Natasha spun her head at him, worry plastered on her face. “Wh-what? ” Natasha asked, raising her voice, “Am I going to be okay?!”

The medical professional put a hand upon her shoulder and shook it gently, speaking in a soft voice as he administered his lies. “Oh, you should be just fine Natasha,” the EMT said, “We’re gonna put you on oxygen for about an hour and you should be okay to head on home.” He pushed the oxygen mask into Natasha’s hands, “Put the mask on, and breathe in, take the mask off, breathe out,” he instructed. Since she didn’t want to die, Natasha did as she was told. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” The EMT spoke as he grabbed a full syringe, “I’ll need to take blood work of your… expressive friend there.” And with that, he went to take care of the man shouting obscenities at the agents, thus leaving the two of them to chat.

“Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause hallucinations you know, ” Blaire off-handedly commented, “Think that’s what you saw in there.” Most people, when presented with a situation that challenges their reality, head straight into denial and try to come up with a normal explanation for it. However, sometimes they will dig deeper and become an issue that only an amnestic could solve. Even then, termination wasn’t out of the question either. It all depends on what reality the witness is willing to accept, and if they value their lives over the truth.

Blaire saw that thought spin in Natasha’s mind, when they are conflicted about which reality to accept to be true. “But- but it all felt so real,” Natasha sputtered as she took off the mask, “That thing literally tore apart the mall! How could I have made that up?!” She shook, holding both of her arms and had trouble catching her breath.

“Breathe,” Blaire spoke, forcing the mask back into Natasha’s mouth, “There was no monster, there was a gas leak. The monoxide’s gotten into your blood, convincing your brain you’ve seen something that wasn’t there. Hell, any crashing you felt was probably just a thousand feet, all stamping to get out of there. There’s no monster, you’re perfectly safe.”

Scared eyes stared at Blaire, though slowly, they dimmed as Natasha nodded along. Breathing in oxygen, and out of the mask just as she was told. Thankfully, this witness was not going to ask anymore questions, and they would not have to do this the hard way.

“Have a pleasant rest of your day ma’am,” Blaire said, “Feel better soon.” With that, Blaire left the ambulance and walked past the commotion of her agents corralling a rather frazzled brute of a man to an ambulance for a ‘blood test’. Right then it wasn’t a concern as they had a bigger problem on their hands.

Searching around the scene, she found her Informant tapping away at that damn tablet. “Informant,” Blaire hissed, causing the poor girl to nearly jump out of her skin. She spun around to attention.

“Y-yes ma’am?” whimpered the Informant.

“Why didn’t you inform me that there was a second anomaly?” Blaire asked as she loomed over her.

“With all due respect ma’am,” the Informant said, pushing up her glasses, “I tried to tell you earlier, but you told me to initiate the Hamilton stratagem.”

“That’s important information that should have been relayed immediately,” Blaire said, shoving the Informant’s shoulder, “Grow a damn backbone, and tell me what I need to know.”

On cue, the Informant looked back to her tablet and pulled up a video file. “Just as the incident occurred, this humanoid had appeared to fight the creature and inexplicably doubled his size during the confrontation,” the Informant told her superior, “We can’t gather information on where this man came from as it seems most of the cameras in the mall had been compromised right before he showed up, All we have is this security footage of the lobby to confirm his presence.”

Once the tablet was in Blaire’s hand, her eyes became glued to the screen. While the camera angle wasn't the best, being that it was on the third floor and pointed towards the lobby. She could still make out the last of the crowd storming out of the mall and not a moment later, Natasha slid and fell onto the lobby’s tiles. Knots tied in her gut, watching the initial anomaly pinning her to the floor. That poor girl indeed. 

Then came the other anomaly, stumbling in from the corner of the video reluctantly. As he was covered from head to toe, it was obvious that he was hiding his identity for a reason. That reason quickly became apparent, watching the anomaly outgrow his opponent and somehow still got his backside handed to him. It was a pathetic attempt at vigilantism, there was no plan and his flailing around could barely count as a fighting stance. The woman he was attempting to save had to be the one to figure out to save both of them from it. Despite the dangerous negligence the giant shifter displayed, what truly made Blaire’s stomach drop happened after the creature was turned into rubble. Trembling fingers fumbled through her coat pocket to fish out another cigarette, placing the butt onto her lips as she focused on the giant’s movements when he attempted to hand the hat back to the lady.

She didn’t pick up on it at first, but the sudden twitch in his hands and what she could make out behind the eye holes of the mask, they were wide every time the giant grew. Clumsy footsteps backing away from the woman and having to painstakingly shove his body out of the lobby in order to leave the premises. He wasn’t in combat anymore, so why would he need to increase his size again if he wanted a simple escape? There was only one conclusion to be drawn; he didn’t have control over his growth.

“Informant, wrap up the cover up here as fast as you can,” Blaire ordered as she shoved the tablet under one of her arms, “I’ll meet with sweep in order to collect any DNA samples of this new anomaly immediately.” Just before she could storm off to the mall, a tug on her elbow caused her to glare back at the Informant stopping her.

“Yes Ma’am but,” the Informant said as she instantly let go of her superior, “Wh-what about the aliens? What should we do about them?”

“We can put aside a task force for that,” Blaire answered as she brushed off her arm, “A basic patrol protocol and water can take care of them.” Blaire lit the cigarette hanging from her mouth as she gave the order. “There’s a moron roaming the streets of Seattle that could bring humanity to its knees,” Blaire directed the informant as she blew a puff of smoke into the air, “and we need to track him down, do you understand?”

“I-I suppose so ma’am-” She didn’t get to finish raising her concerns as Blaire stormed towards the mall. There was no time to dawdle and second guess her judgment. Lives were going to be at risk and there was no telling when the giant was going to make himself known.

Exhaling smoke from her lungs, Blaire stared back down at the paused security footage. The frame where the giant’s eyes were briefly caught stared right back at her. Despite the good intentions he might have, a threat is still a threat at the end of the day.

She had to track this anomaly down. It was Blaire’s duty after all.

[Image Description: Blaire staring down at the tablet with a lit cigarette, the video is paused at the anomaly's face that looks forlorn. There is text on the picture stating “End of Act 1”] ------ Taglist: @satethesatelite @me-be-lurking @smolcomfycat

[unicyclehippo]

i am extremely bad at praising myself & also remembering how much work i have actually done on my og story so im trying the bibliosphere writing reward sticker journal thing again. i am forbidden from buying new notebooks (by myself, for good reason) & i have many many stickers sitting around unused so i made a dinky little cover on a blank notebook & it’s goofy & fun. fingers crossed it helps

[sillygoose1777]

Chapter 1: Disobedience sparks pity

word count: 4114

Tags: Servant whumpee, caretaker, humiliation whump, royal whump, royal caretaker, whump, tw whipping, tw slavery, whipped whumpee, non con stripping, whumpee taken in by royalty, crossdressing whumpee, og ocs, og world, og story, whumpee, whumper, noble whumper, whumpee perceived as female, possessive whumper, mentions of past trauma, mentions of past torture, tw stoning, past injuries mentioned, non con nudity, stern caretaker, multple care takers, multiple whumpers, forceful caretaking, fear of eye contact, defiant whumpee, whumpee that doesn’t talk a lot, curious caretaker, stranger whumpee and caretaker, mentions of non con activity, mentions of forced non con, manhandling, healing arc

Sonnet flinched as his master’s whip flew past his head, barely missing his ear. The next time his master didn’t miss, connecting with his shoulder and splitting his skin open. He cried out, having already lost count at what number lashing that was. Two more followed after before his master finally started wrapping the whip around his arm. 

Sweat dripped into Sonnets eyes despite the wind being cool this morning. The sun had only begun to rise a couple of minutes ago, shining light onto the small crowd that had gathered. Humiliation burned in Sonnet’s cheeks, and he leaned against the wooden pole he was tied too. He was sitting on his knees with his wrists tied behind him, making his shoulders strain. His torn up servant dress was in taters before him, though his skirt safely covered everything below the waist. Despite everything, he somehow had enough dignity, or stupidity depending on who you asked, to glare at his master. Mr.Winslow caught his eye and fumed. He advanced on Sonnet, grabbing his jaw and forcing him upwards. His shoulders screamed, if not for his voice. 

“You stupid boy, show some shame for your crime!” His master screamed in his face.

“Make me,” Sonnet spat.

That comment made Mr.Winslow livid, and he kicked Sonnet in the ribs. Sonnet struggled to heave in a breath through the pressure in his chest, and he leaned forward like a wilted flower. Clearly not done with his anger, Mr.Winslow took a swing at Sonnet. His fist connected with Sonnet’s cheekbone, cutting skin open. Sonnet saw stars as an insistent ringing began in his ears. He could hear Mr.Winslow speaking but couldn’t make sense of it. 

Once Sonnet was able to blink away the stars, he saw that his master was speaking to the slightly larger crowd. Sonnet could just make out Mr Winslow barking out an order for ‘no one to touch his stupid slave’. Then Mr.Winslow walked away to drag his pitiful wife home. Mrs.Winslow looked over her shoulder at Sonnet and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’. She had always liked Sonnet, and was usually very kind to him. But no matter how much she tried, she could never get Sonnet out of Mr.Winslow’s punishments. 

The ringing in his ears slowly dimmed to nothing but the voices of the crowd. Some were still watching, others had grown bored and walked away. Sonnet avoided eye contact with all of them. The last thing he needed was to realize just how much he had humiliated himself. He was likely going to sit there till sunset where Mr.Winslow would hand him right over to a merchant to resell him. 

Sonnect closed his eyes and started collecting his thoughts. If Mr.Winslow really was going to sell him, there was no way he would be seeing any of his stuff again. Even if they did let him keep his stuff, it would likely be taken from him by the next family he was bought by. And on the off chance Mrs.Winslow could convince her husband not to get rid of him, he would be dumped in the furnace room to work till exhaustion. He didn’t know which one he wanted less. 

…

Sonnet looked up at the sky and deduced it was a little past noon. The sun burned into his skin, making it turn bright red and soaked with sweat. He was still shirtless from this morning's whipping, and would likely be for a while unless a townsperson decided to cover him with something. That's how it worked in the kingdom of Montrose. If servants were disobedient to their masters, their master had the choice of how they would like to deal with it. Public humiliation was a popular pick, beating lessons into most servants the first time. If the public felt bad enough, they could give the punished water and feed them, could even give them clothes in Sonnet’s case. But most would not, either convinced the victim deserved it or too scared of the public eye would shame them for helping the weak. 

So Sonnet let the sun roast his skin and parch his tongue. The blood that once poured from his wounds dried on his skin. The market had long been set up and became a bustling place for passersbys. Everyone would give him a wide berth, not daring to get their polished shoes near what they considered filth. Sonnet liked it that way, it meant no one would further harm him. 

That was until a group of boys started making a beeline for him. Sonnet noticed the stones in their hands and felt a sense of dread. Before they had even made it within the circle everyone else avoided, they were throwing the stones and shouting obscenities at him. Bruises would definitely bloom later, joining the list of injuries Sonnet would have to tend to. In the distance, Sonnet thought he could hear a trumpet being played over the boys shouting. 

Sonnet continued to shrink away from the boys until he heard the sound of horse hooves clattering on the sidewalk. The king was back from his trip from a nearby country, and he was coming down this very street. The boys who were once throwing stones realized this as well and froze. The horses were thundering down the street fast with the crowd already parted away. One of the boys tried to dart away, either from fear of being caught or the fear of being trampled. It clearly couldn't be the second as the boy ran straight in front of the horse's path. 

Everyone including Sonnet gasped in horror as the knights reared the horses, towering over the boy. A few members of the crowd screamed as the horses came down, knocking the boy to the ground. As soon as the hooves touched the ground, the knights were climbing off their horses and dragging the boy up. Yelling and threatening him, the crowd divided into chaos. In the corner of his eye, Sonnet saw the door of the carriage fling open. He held his breath as he watched the king himself leave the safety of the carriage. 

“SILENCE!” The king's voice boomed over the crowd. 

Sonnet watched in awe as everyone within the next few miles stilled. The king glared around, clearly already in an awful mood only to be dealing with unruly people. The king walked over to the boy, his friends having abandoned him. One of the knights neared the king with hesitancy. 

“Your highness, it's not safe out here–” The king raised his hand to silence the knight. 

“What happened here?” he asked calmly. 

“I-I didn’t hear the trumpets and tried getting out of the way,” the boy said, cowering under the gaze of the king. The king huffed, then noticed something. 

“What are you holding?”

The knight holding the boy let go assuming the king was talking to him. The boy also raised his hands for the king to see. There were two small stones in his hands, waiting to be thrown at Sonnet. 

“Why do you have stones?”

“I uh um, I like collecting s-stones?” The kid stammered. The king eyed him as the boy's friends sniggered in the crowd. 

Feeling someone staring at him, the king turned around. Sonnet immediately averted his gaze and looked at the king's shoes. He instantly became aware of his shame and his cheeks started to go red like his sunburns. He looked down at his bloodied, sun burned, and sweat stained skin and wished he could have been swallowed up by the earth at that moment. Having been deep in his thoughts of humiliation, Sonnet hadn’t noticed that the king was standing in front of him. Sonnet looked up at the king before realizing his mistake and averting his gaze again. 

The king took in the sight before him. A bloodied and beaten servant was stripped nearly bare and tied down on display. He noticed the rocks surrounding the servant and connected the dots together. The king turned to his knights to address them. 

“Bring me some water for this servant to drink. And arrest that boy for stoning a citizen of Montrose.” 

Two knights grabbed the boy and dragged him off in anger as his friends watched in shock. A third knight presented a water bottle to the king which he took. The king then knelt down and cupped Sonnet’s cheek.

“Untie him,” the king ordered his knight. He then turned to Sonnet and began helping him drink water. The cold water rushed down his parched throat, cooling his flaming insides. The king paused the water stream when Sonnet sagged forward once he was released from the ropes tying him down. The king offered the water bottle to Sonnet and he took it, finishing it in a few messy gulps. He wiped away the few drops that escaped his mouth and flinched when the king draped him in something. He realized it was the king's cloak and he stared in astonishment. 

The king was too busy speaking to his knights. Sonnet closed the king's cloak further in to cover up as much of his bloodied chest as possible. In the next moment, arms pulled him up from his armpits and he yelped. He held the skirts at his waist, making sure they wouldn’t fall down as he wobbled on unsteady legs. He was dragged by the knight up and into the king's carriage, before being sat across from the king. The door shut behind the knight, leaving only the king and Sonnet staring at each other. 

He avoided making eye contact with the king, it was what he was taught since he was a kid. They sat in awkward silence as the carriage lurched forward and began to move. Sonnet grabbed onto the railing, startled by the movement. The king chuckled quietly and Sonnet blushed. This was getting increasingly uncomfortable for him, and he almost wished he was left at the whipping post. 

“Why were you tied there?” the king asked. Sonnet pulled the cloak further in on himself to hide the marks. Sonnet tried formulating the words, to try and sum up all the variables that played into today’s punishment. 

“Because I wasn’t a woman,” Sonnet finally said. He could tell that the king was confused but didn’t know if continuing to explain would be over stepping. So he stayed silent, like he always did. 

In actuality it was more than him not being a woman. Mr.Winslow always resented Sonnet, and often looked for any reason to punish him. But it came to a head this morning when Sonnet wore his servants dress like he always did. He helped Mrs. Winslow with her morning bath like he always did. Mrs. Winslow and a few other staff were the only ones who knew Sonnet was really a man. Though they didn’t seem to mind, if anything they seemed to find it attractive which only increased Sonnet’s discomfort as their servant. Apparently, Mr.Winslow was never informed of Sonnet’s identity and had always assumed that Sonnet was a woman. He was also known for having romantic flings with women other than his wife. So when Mr.Winslow made his advancement and Sonnet turned him down, he tried to force himself onto Sonnet, thus learning that he was in fact not a woman. He never actually told the king that, because he never asked. But it was sad for him to think about. 

The king never filled that silence. He stared at Sonnet for the majority of the ride to the castle, no longer amused whenever Sonnet would startle from a bump in the road. Sonnet gripped the railing of the carriage tight, to stop him from falling onto the king's feet. There was no need to further prove his humiliation. 

Sonnet could tell when they had reached the castle gates when the carriage became enveloped in voices. Soon they were rolling through the gates and stopped before one of the side entries into the castle. The doors of the carriage opened and the knight waiting there helped the king down. Sonnet hesitated and before he could make the decision to leave or stay, the same knight that helped the king before now yanked him out of the carriage. He stumbled and was barely able to catch his balance before he hit the floor. An iron glove gripped Sonnet’s arm and held him close, making sure he wouldn’t escape. The king was too busy talking to some of his royal staff to notice the mistreatment of his new possession. But the man who was currently talking to the king did. 

“--I'm sorry to hear about the failed- who is that?” the man across from the king asked. The king turned around and seemed to remember that Sonnet existed. 

“Oh, him.” The king snapped and a servant scurried over. “Go tell Sister Florence to run a bath for this servant. I want him properly dressed and seen by a physician afterwards.” As the servant walked away, the king motioned to the knight holding Sonnet to follow. 

The grip on Sonnet’s arm tightened where he swore it would leave bruises, and he was dragged off into the castle. The servant they were following split off in a different direction than the knight was taking him, presumably to grab whoever Sister Florence was. There were several times where Sonnet nearly fell from the pace at which they were walking. And everytime the guard would scoff and yank him onward. By the time they had reached a spacious and lavishly designed bathroom, the knight was more than happy to let go of them. 

Sonnet stood alone in the entrance of the bathroom, too scared to step further in or to leave. So instead he looked upwards as he pulled the cloak closer together. There was an intricate chandelier above him, twinkling glass charms dangling from lit candles. It was a luxury Sonnet never personally experienced, never allowed to be in fancy bathrooms unless he was with Mrs Winslow. 

There was a knock on the door and Sonnet startled. He stared as a woman dressed in all black entered, followed by a handmaiden. The woman in black gave him a sweet smile and extended her hand to him. 

“My name’s Sister Florence, I was sent to make sure you were properly taken care of.” 

Sonnet neither spoke nor took her hand to shake it, leaving the room to rest in awkward silence. Sister Florence let her hand fall to her side after a few moments of no movement. 

“Well, I’ll go draw that bath for you,” she said, walking past Sonnet and further into the bathroom. The handmaiden scurried after her, barely giving him a second glance. He started to wonder if it was too late to leave now. 

Sonnet could hear water running from where he was left standing. In a few minutes he watched the mirrors in the distance start to fog up from steam. The air became filled with scented oils, rich with lavender and lemongrass. Scents he only knew the names of because of the amount of times he had run them for Ms. Winslow. 

“Come on dear,” Sister Florence called. 

Reluctantly, Sonnet stepped further into the bathroom. Sister Florence had her hand in the water to test the temperature while the handmaiden was bringing soap bottles to the edge of the bathtub. Noticing him, Sister Florence flicked the water droplets from her hand and came closer. 

“Put your hands on my shoulder.”

Sonnet didn’t listen and watched as she knelt onto the floor. She pulled his foot out from under him and he stumbled, inevitably grabbing her shoulders. She carefully took off his shoes and chucked them to the side. Sonnet took his hands off of her as she stood up. She grabbed the cloak and pulled it off of him. The handmaiden behind him gasped and covered her mouth. Sonnet flushed, feeling exposed, both literally and metaphorically. 

“Ameila! Watch yourself,” Sister Florence scolded.

“Sorry sister,” Amelia replied. 

Sister Florence turned back to Sonnet and took his hand in hers. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, my dear. Now, let's get the rest of these clothes off of you.” 

He was thankful when Sister Florence let go of his hand. He was not so thankful when they began to take off the rest of his clothes till he had nothing left to wear. All of his clothes were tossed haphazardly onto a pile. Sonnet unclipped his dagger sheath he had attached to his thigh for Sister Florence and handed it to him carefully. She took it and looked at it curiously before setting it carefully on the bathroom counter. He was then guided into the bath, more or less against his will. Despite his reluctance, the water was quite warm and soothing. The soapy water stung against his open wounds, making them alight with fire. 

He audibly winced when Sister Florence dumped water over his back. She and the handmaiden Ameila took great care in washing him. He hated the hands that were on him, invading his skin. They lathered soap into his skin then rinsed it off before repeating it over again. By the fourth time he was rinsed, his skin felt as if it was rubbed raw. 

Sister Florence then had Sonnet sit as close to the edge of the tub as possible and tilted his head back. As he looked up at the ceiling she scrubbed shampoo into his hair. He almost relaxed into her touch, the feeling somewhat soothing. She titled his head up again and blocked his eyes while dumping water over his head. She repeated this process again before doing it one more time with conditioner. With his head thoroughly washed and the bath water having turned murky gray, they finally let him out of the bath. 

He was wrapped in one of the softest bath towels he’d ever known. Sister Florence sent the handmaiden Amila to grab his clothes while she gently rubbed him dry. Amila came back with clothes in hand. Sister Florence went to take off his towel when he stepped back.

“I can dress myself,” the first words he said to her. Sister Florence seems surprised that he spoke but respected his wish. She and the handmaiden Amila turned around while he carefully dressed. Sonnet quietly grabbed his dagger off the counter and strapped it back to his thigh. He adorned undergarments, a silk button up shirt, and wide length shorts. He was slightly disappointed he wasn’t allowed to wear a dress, but he made no fuss about it. Sister Florence and Amila turned around while he was pulling up the socks they had given him. Sister Florence had him sit down while she began to work on his hair and Amila helped him put on shoes. 

After about twenty minutes, his hair was brushed out and trimmed slightly to shoulder length. Sonnet protested against any length shorter than that. Sister Florence helped Sonnet stand up and they led him out of the bathroom. Stepping into fresh air that wasn’t filled with scented oils felt intoxicating. He followed quietly as they brought him to a bedroom. It looked like a noble’s personal suite, much too big for a servant to stay. 

“A physician will be with you shortly,” Sister Florence told him before leaving him alone in the room. 

Sonnet didn’t know what to do with his new found aloneness. He looked around the room without moving, letting himself admire the room. He could tell this was a guest bedroom with how unlived in it looked. He wondered when the last time someone had touched this room besides servants cleaning it. Would he be the first to grace this room with a living breath? A very exhausted, yet living breath. 

The door opened and Sonnet snapped his head to look at the person who entered. It was a man in a doctor's coat, holding a briefcase in one hand and the doors handle in the other. He smiled at Sonnet and stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. 

“I’m Dr. Clarke, and you are?” the physician asked. 

“Sonnet.” 

“That’s a lovely name.” Sonnet didn’t respond. “If I could have you sit on the bed, we can get started,” Dr. Clarke said as he gestured to the bed. 

Sonnet followed his gaze and sat on the very edge of the bed. Dr. Clarke followed, setting his briefcase near Sonnet. He opened it up and pulled out a few tools. He started by checking Sonnets eyes, ears, and mouth. Once the normal routines were done, Dr. Clarke put away his tools and put on a set of gloves. 

“If I could have you take off your shirt for me.”

Sonnet did as he was told, and held the folded shirt in his lap. Dr. Clarke began his work with each wound. Pouring antiseptics into the open ones, burning out any possible infection. Gently covering them in ointment before wrapping them in cloth. He would gently press against any bruises Sonnet had to test whether they needed attention or not. He had Sonnet turn around so that he could do the same thing over again for all the wounds on his back. Those ones hurt the most and Sonnet had to bite his tongue multiple times to stop himself from crying. Sonnet was allowed to turn back around when the physician was done. He buttoned his shirt back up while Dr. Clarke changed his gloves.

“Now I’ll have you take off your pants,” Dr. Clarke stated. 

Sonnet hesitated under the physician's gaze, but eventually took them off. There were fewer wounds for Dr. Clarke to focus his attention on, making it a lot quicker then when he worked on his torso. As soon as Dr. Clarke was done, Sonnet pulled his shorts back on, wanting to be left alone. Dr. Clarke packed up his briefcase, then handed a bottle to Sonnet. 

“Drink a cap-full of this tonic with every meal till your bruises are gone.” 

Sonnet held the bottle in his hands as the physician left. He leaned against the bed and exhaustion finally settled onto his shoulders. He looked out the window of the guest room and saw that the sun had well past setting. Stars were already creeping up the skyline. Just when Sonnet thought he had actually been left alone for the night, there was a knock on his door. A servant walked in with a tray of food. They set it down on a side table next to some bookshelves before addressing Sonnet. 

“I was told to inform you that you will be spending the night here. Silas will be coming to get you in the morning for your audience with the king.” 

They then gave a small head bow before leaving the room. Sonnet looked at the bottle in his hand before sighing and walking over to the tray of food. A small voice in his head warned him of the food being poisoned, but at this point he really didn’t care. So what if the king had him treated this nicely just to poison him in the end, it was better than the Winslows ever had. Sonnet sat at the small table and ate slowly, watching the castle's life dwindle by the night. By the end of the meal, he felt even more exhausted and in pain. He poured out a cap-full of the tonic before shooting it like whiskey. 

It tasted bitter in his mouth and he washed it down with a glass of water. With a full stomach and a tired mind, Sonnet blew out the candles in the room and crawled into bed. The mattress was softer than any cot he had been allowed to sleep on. Despite his history with insomnia, the soft blankets and the comfort of safety in sitting in his stomach lulled him down enough to actually fall into soundless sleep. 

[kkolg]

Doodles for an og story I might make an amv to at some point

[thewingedgoat]

Mono from the upcoming Series with @emgamezsupreme and my paddy @skykiuwu

[bookworm-octavia]

:∆

[ihattertals23]

☆A STORY I CAME UP WITH IN CLASS.☆

.。o○.。o○.☆.○o。○o。..。

☆In a world where children that have lost their

parents are given a contract with inhuman beings

and given powers beyond what they have ever

known. We follow Molly on her journey of self

discovery and growth. ☆

.。o○○o。..。o○○o。..。o○○o。..。o○○o。

[glitch-draws-insanity]

FLATLAND : A STORY OF THE NORTH!

EYE STRAIN

This is a fan made story I am writing with the help of others! My two ocs, Khalid and Noor, from the eyes of the chromatists..

ATTEND TO YOUR CHROMATISATION!

[unicyclehippo]

im applying for a writers fellowship that is due next week n i feel literally sick to my stomach like. “why would this be beneficial/what are your reasons for applying” well thanks for asking im incapable of focusing & plotting a story. not because i have kids or responsibilities just bc of the way I am I guess haha I promise im not lazy just fundamentally incapable & my head feels like it’s being pressed in a vice at all times. “tell us about yourself” I have done nothing of interest!!!! ever!!!!! “please provide a clear and concise project outline of what you hope to accomplish if you are awarded the residency” literally anything at all. anything. I would love to be able to plot my story . I want it to exist so fucking bad

[g0v3rnm3nt-dr0n3]

The ghost of Aero Mansion

“Ladies gentleman please stand if if you’re able” the officiant announced. Today was the day. Spirit Aero and Vanessa Votè were getting married.

Spirit is the only remaining Aero alive. She’s known Vanessa for 15 years and they’ve been dating for 7. Vanessa has been there for Spirit for almost her entire life.

Vanessa was waiting at the alter for Spirit to walk down the aisle. She stared at Spirit through tear filled eyes as she approached her. “Spirit, when I first met you I wanted to know all of your secrets. You let me listen to you and that’s when I found out that I loved you. You ranted to me about your favourite shows and video games, I will stay with you through sickness and in health and only death may do us.”

Spirit started to tear up as well. “When I first met you I thought you were weird. You wanted to listen to me rant and no one had ever listened to me before. You show me you love me by listening to me and I will forever be grateful. I will stay with you until I die. I love you Vanessa, and I hope for you to take my last name.”

“You may now kiss the bride.” the officiant said and

the crowd applauded.

The reception began after Spirit and Vanessa changed clothes. The two began to do their first dance. Vanessa was in a white pant suit with lace and Spirit was in a black tuxedo. The two of them danced to the rhythm of Toxic by Britney Spears (instrumental). The dance finished and everyone grabbed some cake. The duo never took their hands off of each other. The night was almost over and then they could go home together, as wives.

[thestaruniverses]

A collection of alternative universes of THE STAR.

! WHAT IS THE STAR?

Originally an original Gacha Studio fantasy series of self inserts/ocs of six friends that stopped at episode two because the creator got off track, and now there's tons of different universes, scenarios that turns into full fledged stories.

This blog is run by six people.

!THESE ARE ORIGINAL STORIES WE MADE FOR FUN! :D

MOD INTROS 💫 CURRENT AUs 💫 CHARACTERS

TAGS :

#✩THE STAR MODS = mod posts

#✩THE STAR CHARACTERS = about the characters (lore, for fun etc.)

#✩THE STAR AUs = the stories

#✩THE STAR = anything related to it

[h-d-bolteress]

Just because the war is over, does not mean the battles are…

Tiktok about my WIP sapphic fantasy story! Follow on tiktok @/H.D.Bolteress for more.

[char-art-writeing]

I think you'd like this story: "🏹Aim for the stars🏹" by Charlie_TB1 on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/375503680?utm_source=android&utm_medium=sms&utm_content=story_info&wp_page=story_details_button&wp_uname=Charlie_TB1

@scott-tracy-1 This is the link!

I can't remember if I posted this or not but it's my story. It's about 2 lovers who are archers and I don't mean Robin Hood kind of thing I mean the stuff you see in the Olympics. Charlie and Ethan are the main characters (none of the names are anyone for real life but I've based it on my own archery experience). Hopefully someone wil read it.

[weirdieblog]

Legends Of Kemekos-Search Of The King

Episode 1-work of fiction-partner-@ch10srac00n

I woke up dizzy,confused on how I ended up on this planet.My world,my home,destroyed.It all became undone in the blink of an eye.My name is Sander Ashora.I am one of the royal guards from my realm,my mission on earth is to search for the future ruler of my galaxy,my god.My Universe depends on me finding him. As I stood up,I realized my unique traits wouldn't hide from the human eye.Which is why I should hide them,one or another.But for now... "It's time to start my mission." I said to myself as I looked up at the starry sky.The moonlight falling on my face.Oh,how I wish I could go home at the moment I gazed at the moon.Mother,I promise,I would find him before your last breath.Hopefully,once I come back to the shelter,you'll be there.Waiting for me. (Hello,Weirdie speaking here,I am tired and me and my friend decided to start our series.Until we are less busy with school,we'll write instead of drawing.)

[ramenremm]

FREDYA- MY FIRST CREEPYPASTA!!! AND OC FROM CREEPYPASTA FANDOM

Info:

This is my first Creepypasta and Anything related to creepypastas like this.

I know it came out a little embarrassing and silly, but I really wanted to start somewhere!!!

I'll insert more information later and hope to get better with each work

Keep in mind that English is not my first language

Love also yes Nina and Jane Is here because i thought it will be funny

ONE SHOT

The sound of a vicious cough followed by a dozen more sounds filled with pain and discomfort was something that had been standard every day for a dozen months. A standard to which I should have been accustomed, and yet my face expressed nothing but worry. My body lay inert on a small bed with blue sheets. The sun slowly appearing in the sky reminded me that I should get up soon, as the alarm clock lying on the bedside table often failed to do so. My mind was foggy from little sleep and dark thoughts. Things should have started to improve, and it didn't look like it.                        Another sharp attack of coughing coming from the next room made me rise to sit down. With dark eyes of distaste, I ran a quick glance over the floor of the room, where piles of various clothes and garbage were piled up. I was supposed to clean it up last night, but I was so tired from school activities that I completely forgot about it. Again.       

The only place where there were no scattered clothes was the mirror standing near the bed.       

I marked in my head to do it today, or at least try to, because otherwise my mother would do it, and that's the last thing I'd want.              I had a guilty conscience when she had to get out of bed unnecessarily, let alone clean up my mess. Speaking of my mother, Harper, it was from her bedroom that the sounds indicating ill health were coming. It had persisted for far too long, and despite trying various things, nothing seemed to work. That's what was causing me to get up and go to the small bathroom connected to the bedroom, and I felt like I wasn't fully in the world with my mind. Constant visits to doctors, specialists, anyone who fit the general description in any way did not work one bit. No diagnosis, no cure. No one knew exactly what was wrong with my mother, and they referred people to other people in the hope that they would get lucky there. They didn't get lucky. 

Looking in the mirror hanging over the sink at first, I didn't pay attention to my reflection only to a small piece of paper attached to the top. Today we had an appointment with another doctor, supposedly the best in his profession.                             

I had to write things down and leave them that way, because with the ubiquitous clutter in the room it was hard to find a scrap of space where it would stand out. I could still use my phone if only it wasn't perpetually discharged or lost. I myself was beginning to be a wreck of a person through worry. Shifting my gaze, I finally met my reflection, the bags under my eyes were the first thing to be noticed on my pale face, right after the already rather large faded scar on my cheek. Maybe I should be thankful that something else was distracting me from it? I cringed at the mere mention of the appearance of this addition to my skin.                                         

Going forward, however, it was no better, my black hair from lack of sleep and poor attention to my own health looked as if it was going to fall out at the slightest pull. Deep in my heart I hoped that this was not a true comparison, but only my imagination, but I was afraid to check myself. The answer came on its own, as there were already a dozen black hairs on the sink.         

Thanks to brushing my teeth, the flowing water from the tap drowned out the sounds of coughing at least for a while, but it seemed to me that I had heard them so often that they had already etched themselves in my memory enough to be heard anywhere anyway. Regardless of the noise.  Personal hygiene is the only thing I haven't neglected in my life since the nightmare began, constantly visiting various hospitals, offices and clinics forced me to keep my person clean, this didn't apply, however, to the even larger pile of clothes lying on the white bathroom tiles. I forgot to do the laundry. I was supposed to put them in the washing machine three days ago, however, I forgot about it again. Now I was sure that all my clothes were in that place, as opposed to on the floor of the bedroom, where their condition was no better.                                      I sighed to myself and crouched down to start searching through everything that was there hoping to find something that didn't smell so bad. The different colored clothes had all sorts of stains or just an unpleasant smell to the point that I started to feel frustrated. I felt like throwing it all away and crying, but in the end a plain red short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans that still seemed decent fell into my hands, it was better than nothing.

I changed my clothes quickly although a bit haphazardly, as I had to mend my pants a few times, but walking out of the bathroom back to my room I could say that I was ready for another day full of excitement.                                                             

Before I could even leave, I headed to my desk where lay scattered books and pages torn from notebooks. I could have sworn I was supposed to do something for school since there were so many pieces of paper, my memory, however, was not inclined to make my task any easier. I'll get another bad grade. If this keeps up, I'm going to have trouble passing this year, just what we needed.                       

I wiped my face trying to pull myself together somehow. We can always try to talk to the teachers! Not that my own mother's ill health was something I'd want to use for such things, but letting them know things weren't going well might at least give me a little more time. 

It's worth catching on to anything so much as to not upset her even more now. 

With this quickly concocted plan, I threw the books that seemed appropriate into my black backpack, which, by the way, also looked like it needed a decent wash, and later also included my phone charger and cosmetics. It was fortunate that here Sydney schools gave the option of using electricity. Water and toilet paper were hard to come by in the school bathrooms, so it was good that they gave us at least that much.                        Zipping up I looked this time at the cork board that hung in front of my desk, it was filled with unnecessary information. Along with the schedule of additional ceramics classes, I didn't need it at the moment, I mean, I didn't have time for it, someday I might come back to it. There's always time right?     

I put on my backpack and reached for my phone, which, as it turned out, still had a few percent in it, amazing.                                                                           

I might even be able to listen to some music before it goes out completely. With that thought in mind, I also reached for the white headphones on the cable and slipped both items into my pants pocket. Walking out of the room was sometimes a challenge along the lines of try not to trip, but I managed to do it without incident this time.                          I closed the dark wood door with a quiet clatter, giving myself some time before walking over to the other door. I knocked on it gently, and only after that did I open it and look inside.

- Did you sleep a bit?- I asked, looking deep into a room that was more dark than mine. My mother never liked to open the curtains from her window too much, it made the atmosphere even more unpleasant, but she could not be persuaded to do otherwise. My mother was already sitting on the edge of her bed and was visibly trying to stop herself from coughing by holding a cloth to her mouth, her hands shaking gently from the effort it was costing her. I felt my heart squeeze even more. Seeing her in such a state hurt.                                                         

For a while she couldn't even answer me, because every time she tried, she had to struggle again to catch her breath. With each such attack I was afraid that she would eventually break her ribs. 

-A little- she replied by waving her hand, thus dismissing the subject. If I had slept more than an hour myself, I might have believed her. Why else is she trying to deceive me after such a long time? 

-I'll be back around two in the afternoon. The last two lessons are substitutions at the library, I don't have to be at them. I'll come and we'll go to Dr. Wills.- I presented her with the plan for the day as we did every day. Sometimes I hated this school so much, it just took time away from me and us. 

- I can go alone, you don't have to always go with me- She muttered quietly, and I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. We had gone over this a large number of times, too. She didn't want to worry me, but she also knew that I would be even more worried if I didn't hear what the doctors had to say. And she continued trying to convince me. To no avail.

-Remember not to eat breakfast, because you need to be fasting so they can do possible tests. And check if we are sure we have all the documents- I said firmly, and for the last few seconds I watched her face looking at me in pain. Not because of my words or behavior, but because this is not how this situation should be. We were supposed to choose my studies and dorms together, not doctors still fearing for the worst 

-Two o'clock in the afternoon.- I repeated and walked away from the door to start going down to the first floor of the house. 

The gray walls on which hung white frames with photos of the two of us seemed even more overwhelming, which is ironic, because despite such colors earlier it seemed more lively here. The wooden staircase was even darker and duller, which was rare before through the constant obsession to clean that my mother had. Everything was more matte in my eyes. The living room, with its black couch, seemed dark through the drawn curtains and the TV turned off. I looked at it with sadness, for a long time, but I couldn't spend grieving for the soul of this house that had been taken away, or more like forcibly snatched away, because the hands on the small clock hanging on the living room wall were approaching dangerously fast the time at which I would already be late, even though I was specifically leaving early so I could walk to school. I could have taken the bus and had more time, sure, I just didn't see myself sitting around kids of all ages most of whom had too much energy for such an early hour. It was too overwhelming and settling, especially when trying to sort out my thoughts, in which there was also the same chaos.                                       

Reaching for the red sneakers, I could see how worn out they already were. The old version of my mom would have already chastised me for this, after all, I have so many other shoes, I don't need to walk around in the same ones all the time. As for now, Mom, you are not here in this condition, forgive me, I will wear these shoes again. Until you recover.       

Shoelaces tangled in my fingers, which annoyed me terribly, but I finally managed to open the door and go outside after this struggle.                                 

I closed the door quietly behind me and looked around. It was still early, so there weren't so many people on the streets yet, although some were also already leaving for work. 

The sky was pleasantly bright colors, after all, it was May, soon to be summer vacation. You could feel it in the air, it was also one of the reasons why walking was better than riding the bus. The cobblestones I walked on still had traces of chalk drawings on them in places. Kids did it all the time and some of the artwork was even cute, so other, I don't know if drawing a big dick in the middle of the sidewalk has any deeper meaning, but whatever your soul tells you. This road was so familiar to me that I didn't even need to look where exactly I had to go, I stared into the space in front of me trying to dig as much hope as possible out of the depths of myself for today. With each failed visit there was less and less of it, but it was still there. If you looked hard enough. Through this reverie I remembered about my phone only after a few minutes of walking, so I reached for both the phone and the headphones, and the black case with various stickers immediately greeted me, making me feel embarrassed. Who else decorates their cases like this?                                               

Firing up the device, I didn't expect it to keep going from the moment I picked it up on stand up, but it worked. It looked like it was on its last breaths, but it worked. 

Not wanting to test its endurance any longer, I clicked the green icon of the music listening app and went to my liked songs. I selected the first better song, which, as it turned out, was a Ms by alt-J. I can't remember the last time I listened to them. After turning up the volume enough that I could barely hear my own footsteps, I put my phone back in my pocket. If the music suddenly stops, I'll know it's disconnected for amen.                                  The longer I thought about today the more I began to ponder one question. Would I rather it turn out to be some kind of dangerous disease, or that nothing would turn out and we would live like this forever. Both answers made the future seem terribly cold and sad. Ignorance kills, but what can you say about getting news with a death sentence? In my opinion, the scales were very even between the two options. 

If I could, I would have taken it, and so I can only worry. It was killing me more and more. 

I don't even know when the song switched to meet me in the woods from lord huron. 

As I walked past one of the houses I saw a young woman with a baby in a stroller just out for a walk, Riley, had recently moved in here, and we often passed each other on our morning walks. My mother liked her terribly and always offered to help with her daughter, because being a young mother was not easy.  But she was lucky because her daughter Tiffany was a adorable baby. She rarely cried, in fact I don't know if I ever saw her cry. She probably took after her mother, the woman was always smiling too.

I don't know if I envy them more or hate them for what they have. Not that I can hate an innocent child, but the very image of them that I see. I quickened my step with my head lowered so that I didn't have to greet her. The bitter feeling inside was enough for this morning. Funnily enough, despite my fear of being late, I was a moment ahead of schedule. Less than ten minutes, however, it's always ten minutes to myself.                                   

The black gate of the school was already wide open, and through the open door of the school you could see people walking down the hallway going about their lives. A large part of these people were from the student club, probably hanging holiday decorations on the walls.                                         

With a quick mental countdown to three, I pulled off my headphones and reached for my phone to turn off the music, but the device's screen was already completely black. At least I now had a purpose than just sitting in a corner and waiting for the bell to ring. 

Passing between people was relatively easy when they were busy hanging up tacky posters promoting the selection of any of the summer activities. I didn't believe anyone was coming to most of them on their own.                                                                               

The school itself was quite large, with several classrooms and a reception area downstairs in addition to a locker room and lockers for the students, and display cases lined up against one wall showing all sorts of awards and diplomas won for our school. Most were probably bought at a pawn shop when no one was looking, I'm not judging, do what you can to have students. The dark staircase leading up was the second floor and then the second floor. I currently stopped at the first, because that's where I was supposed to have my first class for today, and the classroom where everyone should gather soon was open. My bench was next to the windows more or less in the middle, but I sat completely at the back, there were outlets there. A few minutes is nothing if I want to charge my phone, but it is likely that Matt, the person sitting here just happened not to be coming to the first lesson, which would be a salvation in this case. Plugging in the cable, I stared at the screen for a while in anticipation until the familiar icon appeared and it began to turn back on. A few more people came into the classroom, only out of the corner of my eye did I see a familiar face approaching where I was sitting. 

- I told you to buy a powerbank- Jane Richardson said with a small smile on her face while pulling my backpack from the chair next to me. We weren't particularly close, but it was always good to have someone to talk to in this place. Her dark brown hair was up in a loose ponytail, and her blue eyes expressed too much excitement for so early in the day. 

- I didn't have time for this, I'm still busy- I muttered leaning my head against my hand, but still looked in her direction. She was wearing a black T-shirt with the print of some band and jeans, nothing out of the ordinary, although it wouldn't surprise me if she came in something strange. I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just her style of being. 

- That's why I offered to buy it for you recently, and you refused- she reminded me of our conversation that took place probably a week ago. I hoped she would forget about it.  

- I will do it soon, so far stealing electricity from the school is quite convenient for me- I said with feigned confidence in my own words. Sometimes I was a little surprised that these sockets still work, it's probably a matter of time. Where do they actually get electricity here if some classrooms are not even lit? Does the director choose for himself what he wants to light at any given time? That would make an interesting conspiracy theory... I thought to myself for a moment drifting away from her words.

- Ugh, probably Nina has again found something related to fairing or some other crap- I was snapped out of my reverie by Jane's exasperated words, and it took me a moment, through a small amount of sleep, to even grasp what she was talking about. Nina Hopkins, an even more energetic girl who read too much about paranormal things, crimes and murderers, I didn't have TOO MUCH negative feelings for her, but I had to admit that she could annoy with her chirping about, for example, how someone quartered someone and ate them. 

- Does she have to announce to everyone what she has read?- I asked rhetorically trying to avoid eye contact with the girl we were talking about. Every time she turned her head vigorously it was her black hair and red streak that flew all around. It was impossible to ignore her completely.

- A better question is why she has to practically shout while telling these silly things-  replied Jane with a sigh, which was a mistake, because she did it too loudly, thus attracting Nina's attention.  Not five seconds passed, and she started approaching our bench. Her mouth opened before she was even completely beside us. 

- Hi Jane, Hi Daphne!- She called out turning the chair in the bench in front of us so she could sit facing us. 

- Hi nina- We said together resignedly, which did not discourage the girl, because she immediately started waving her phone with a purple case in front of our faces. I was very impressed that the poor thing had not yet flown out of it and hit the floor. 

- Look what I read! I thought nothing would interest me anymore, but yet I found it- She threw it excitedly, shoving Jane's phone to read what was displayed on the screen herself. Willing or not, I leaned closer to her to read it too, since I would find out what all the fuss was about anyway. Jane exchanged a glance with me before she started reading aloud something that turned out to be some kind of blog post? I couldn't see exactly, but that's what it looked like.

- I didn't know exactly what I was addressing until the letters F R E D Y A were marked on the quia tab, my friend was delighted that we had finally gotten through to her, it was what she wanted. They then began to negotiate, She needed the help of her powers to become prettier. Fredya wanted to become a physical figure in return. We were young, we didn't know what exactly she wanted, so X agreed. The transaction came to a close, nothing happened then after the conversation ended. No things similar to those scary stories about demons. It was completely as if nothing had happened. I came to the conclusion that she was mocking me and moving the marker herself to add some fear to the whole situation. We dispersed to our homes and everything quieted down for a few days. Blah blah blah, the last time I saw her it didn't look like her. Her eyes were all white and blood was pouring from her mouth, she was choking on it. I don't know where she is now, she's missing and no one has ever seen her again.Jane read, cringing at how poorly the story was written. It was immediately obvious that it was some kind of Creepypasta or something like that. 

- How exactly is this different from the millions of other scary stories you've made us read?- I asked, watching Jane pull out a water bottle as reading it finished her off.         Nina looked even more delighted by it all. 

- The fact that people were actually able to contact her! There are articles and videos!- She responded by snatching the phone out of Jane's hand to show the said evidence. I forgot not to ask about such things.

- It's just a story, just because ghost hunters on the internet made up that they contacted that whole Fredya thing, it doesn't mean that it really happened- Jane spoke up looking at Nina like a child who believes in the Bloody Mary myth. I felt the same way, I had already heard so many stories from her mouth that it was getting boring. 

- It's not about ghost hunters, the girl really disappeared after trying to summon her- She defended her opinion fiercely by showing us the phone again, this time with a real article in which they wrote about the disappearance of a young girl after playing at contacting a demon named Fredya. The disappearance was real, the circumstances didn't have to be. 

- Nina. A real person went missing, the fact that she was playing with something like this has no connection to it, it's possible that some psychopath is holding her, and you're making proof of the existence of demons. Grow up.- Jane reprimanded her, annoyed by her behavior and how she approached it. 

- If you already want to walk and talk about all this, then ask everyone if they have not seen her. - She added looking at her with squinted eyes. Her words caused Nina to fall silent and get up to walk away from us. 

- You might not have been so sharp- I muttered as I watched her return to her seat. Jane was right, but she could have done things differently.Especially since Nina now looked like a kicked dog.

- Someone needs to talk some sense into her- She just replied and shrugged her shoulders. I didn't even know what to say anymore and fortunately the bell saved me from that. Now most of the class was already inside and sat down in their seats. No one rebuked the seats where Jane and I were sitting together.                                                      The teacher appeared as soon as the last person entered. You could see from her face a tiredness similar to the one we all felt, this meant another almost slow lesson. We only learned history in theory.                                    Teacher started the lesson by reading something from the textbook, and I rested my head against my hand starting to drive my eyes around the classroom to stay awake. Daily insufficient sleep got me just at such moments, but I couldn't afford to sleep in class, because after the last time, the teachers would start asking if I was okay, and I didn't need their worries, at least not yet. When I start failing seriously, I'll think about it then.

My gaze finally fell back on Nina, who was sitting quietly and writing something down in her notebook. I stared at her for a little longer than I should have. Something in my brain whispered again a few sentences from the article she had read to us.   There is no point in typing this and reading it, please give me something else to occupy my time.....

I barely held back a sigh when I turned my phone on again. Being careful not to disturb the teacher, I started searching for something more about "Fredya" maybe it was her funny name that made it so memorable. I felt surprised to see a lot more information containing this strange name.    Okay, reading it was much more interesting than the story. 

"Fredya is a demon who preys on people's greed. All who turn to her are those who have too little or want more. They ask for many favors and she grants them, while taking away even more. Every wish has consequences depending on what you wish for."

I read my mind while trying not to roll my eyes. Totally sounded like a creepypasta created by a bored teenager. 

"There are many ways to contact her, some more effective, some less. The most popular method is to use a quia board, but you have to be careful when doing so. Just because a demon introduces itself by some name or confirms its identity, it further does not mean that you are talking to it personally." 

What kind of idiots would be so desperate to use a quia board to help them in their lives. You are asking for more problems yourself.

"Fredya's summoning ritual was written down by an unknown person, several people confirmed its authenticity, however, this is left for everyone to judge for themselves. All you need to perform the summoning is something sharp, a mirror and a dark room.

Execution: We lock ourselves in a dark room together with the mirror, we need to make sure we are alone, otherwise the energy may be disturbed. We sit in front of the mirror, preferably as close as possible. We take a sharp tool that we will use for the most important point. We need our blood, the place where it is taken is an important element during what we want to ask for. The more help we need, the more serious the place of collection should be.                              For example, if you need help with your love, the wrist is enough. We then smear the blood on the mirror where our eyes are reflected. During this process, we say the words given below. 

Within a minute you should get an answer.

-

ሁሉን ቻይ ፍሬዲያ፣ ለእርዳታዎ በመለመን አነጋግርዎታለሁ። ያለኝን ሁሉ እሰጥሃለሁ። ኃይልህን አበድረኝ፤ በምላሹ ራሴን ሁሉ እሰጣችኋለሁ። ቃሎቼን አድምጡ -. 

I felt like my brain stopped working after reading this. It's been a long time since I read something so kitschy. It was so stupid that I turned off my phone and started listening to what the teacher was saying. Jane glared at me over hearing me put my phone back on the bench, but I just nodded so she wouldn't pay attention. It was so irrational that I had it in my head all day. In every lesson, whenever my mind started to get bored it went back to those words. That is, he did it at times when I happened to be awake. Even while eating a stupid sandwich bought with money scavenged from the bottom of my backpack, I couldn't focus on anything else. I read a few more articles, most of which were similar to the one in which there was a recipe for recall, that is stupid. 

I don't even know when the lessons passed so quickly, this is one of the few such days.

- Are you coming to my place? We could do this paper together- Jane said as we walked out of the school building along with many other people who randomly pushed us. 

- I would like to, but I have to go home, I'm going to a meeting with my mother- I replied sighing at the fact that I had to refuse. Working for literature lessons was always an ordeal, however, was one of the last points of my worries. The first was a doctor's appointment for which I was about to be late. 

- Again? Good luck, call me if you change your mind. See you- She called out to me before she disappeared with the others walking toward the parking lot where some of the parents were waiting. I didn't even have time to answer her, but I knew she wouldn't hold it against me. It was time to get back to listening to music. 

Without waiting long I immediately sped up my stride and quickly found myself on the road home holding my headphones in one hand and my phone in the other.                        Trying to avoid others walking in the same direction, I started texting my mother asking if she was ready to go out. I didn't get a reply right away like I usually do, but I wasn't worried about it somehow, she was surely getting ready or trying to catch her breath after a coughing attack, so I shifted my attention to finding some song.                         

The cold air hit my face making me shiver. I hated this kind of weather, the sun seemingly still shining, yet it was so terribly cold. At least it was some way to wash away any residual fatigue. 

I didn't have to try to keep my eyes open as hard as I would have expected, for my attention was caught by a rather large gathering of people on the street between the houses in my neighborhood. The fact that there was also an ambulance standing between them didn't help to curb the anxiety which immediately made me feel as if a stone had dropped in my stomach. 

I knew what was going on, even though I begged in my mind that it was a mistake.

A brisk walk turned into a run when I started running straight toward my house where there seemed to be the most heads turned. 

- Daphne!- called out Riley trying to stop me from running too close. She didn't make it. Before anyone could stop me I found myself standing in front of my house, the door of which was wide open, and an ambulance was standing not far away. I was in such shock that I didn't know until the end what I was looking at.                                                             

Through the open door it was possible to see the three paramedics leaning over my mother lying on the ground. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted. My eyes widened at this sight, I felt all the air escape from me. 

- Mom- I said expecting her to look in my direction or do anything. She didn't respond. 

- Daphne, don't look at it- Riley turned to me again, this time coming over to block my view of my mother's resuscitation. I was so blown away by what I saw that I couldn't even break free from her grasp. 

I was unable to put together a single thought in my head, and the words that came out of my mouth were unintelligible gibberish. 

- Please make way for us- Commanded one of the paramedics quickly exiting the house towards the ambulance, leaving my mother with the other men who exchanged glances with each other, thus ceasing their vigorous actions. 

- No- I choked out, realizing that they were no longer trying to save her, they were letting her lie with her eyes closed and such a calm face she had not had in a long time. 

- No, what happened- I repeated falling harder into the arms of the woman, who herself was shocked by what she was seeing. My headphones fell to the ground, now completely forgotten.

- Shh, don't look, don't look- she said pressing my head against her shoulder, but this did not help the feeling of grief filling my heart. It all happened so suddenly and fast, I was not able to process it.  

- I have to go with him- I said, watching as the rescuer who had gone to the card earlier was now returning with a stretcher to take the My mother's body. 

- You can't, your Aunt Margaret will arrive soon, she will take care of you. I called her- Riley answered me, but it did not reach me. I struggled with her to raise my head and look once again towards the house, ideally to see how they carried her on the gurney. Her body was so.... Strange. She was not shaken by any coughing attacks, she allowed herself to be touched. 

Why didn't she say anything, didn't even look in my direction? 

I don't even know when my knees gave in under me. If it weren't for the fact that Riley's arms were holding me, I would have definitely felt concrete. 

- please disperse, really- Repeated one of the rescuers walking ahead, I also felt then how I was pushed aside to make way for them. Her face was so pale when they moved her next to me, I wanted to reach out my hand towards her, but I couldn't move, I felt like I was frozen. 

- I have to go with her- I repeated in amok, but got the same reaction.

- Margaret will be here soon, let's go home.- She whispered raising her hand to stroke my head, then I finally broke out of her grasp. The people watched the ambulance door close and then turned their gaze toward me, as if anticipating some kind of reaction. I saw in their faces grief, sympathy, everything one could feel when looking at a child who had just lost his mother. 

- Daphne?- said Riley looking at me worriedly. I opened my mouth, but no words came out of it. 

I couldn't stand the feelings and their stares. With a shaky step I walked towards my empty house and without waiting for anyone else to react I slammed the door behind me locking it as I always did when I returned. My gaze immediately fell on the floor where just a moment ago my mother was lying. Nearby lay her phone. It was switched off. How had this happened? It was bad this morning, but it always was. She should be here, we should be leaving now to see a doctor. 

Why was it so quiet here? 

She had to be here somewhere, it didn't happen. 

Barely taking breaths, I started walking to the living room, my backpack fell from my shoulders and fell somewhere on the floor, I didn't pay attention to it, just like the fact that I was still holding my phone in the steel grip of my left hand. I had no control over my body. My eyes scanned the space of the room looking for signs that she would be here somewhere soon. Everything was just as I had left it that morning, no signs of this bad situation. 

- this can't be happening- I whispered and tears finally began to flow from my eyes. Only then did I feel what it meant to really suffocate. All the air from my lungs was taken away in such a brutal way that a piercing pain went through my chest. 

- Daphne? Please let me in, you shouldn't be alone- called out Riley knocking on the front door, but her voice was distant to me. I didn't even fully understand what she said. 

- That's not true- I said to myself staring at the floor before I started hitting my head with my hands. The sobs continued to shake my body barely allowing me to stand up straight. 

- That's not true!- I shouted this time and threw the phone somewhere further away from me, but soon my hands were filled with my hair, which I began to pull. 

- She is alive- I continued to scream unable to calm down.

- Daphne!- Riley continued to prefer knocking harder on the door. The loud sounds brought me back to reality a little, but they didn't help bring me under control. 

My gaze swept quickly across the room once more before stopping on the phone. With a quick step I found myself at the device which was lying on the ground next to a small table. The screen had a few cracks, but when I turned it on it was working flawlessly. 

Through my tears I could barely see what I was doing, that didn't stop me. All I had in my mind was this stupid empty name and the desire to be with my mother.

After making sure everything worked, I took a quick step toward the kitchen. I knew exactly what I was going there for, the top drawer in one of the cabinets. That's where the cutlery and all the knives were. By my vigorously pulling the drawer handle, the metal shook loudly in the room. I pulled out the largest blade we had in the house. 

- Daphne, please don't do anything stupid!- shouted Riley in the background below as I started walking toward my room. It was the only room in the house that had a large mirror. 

Running up the stairs with one hand, I started going back to the article I had read just a few hours ago. I didn't care how silly it looked, all I felt was pain in my heart. I knew that normally I wouldn't be able to do anything.

My room was crowded by everything I hadn't cleaned, in front of the mirror, however, there were only a few scattered clothes. 

Throwing my phone and knife on the ground, I walked over to the window to close the curtains, but leaving enough room for the room to still be lit. 

I felt like I wasn't myself, as if everything that was happening was in my head. 

As soon as the room was darker I sank to my knees in front of the mirror. I couldn't catch a single normal breath even though my sobbing had calmed down enough for me to utter words. 

Looking at myself in the mirror, I didn't even recognize myself. I looked like a wreck of a human being, as if I was no longer human myself. My face was all red and wet with tears. 

Reaching for the phone once again I read everything although it was hard because of the blurry words on the screen.  

- That's it, you'll be with me- I said to myself without waiting a moment longer just putting the phone down, and grabbing my shirt to pull it over my head. The white bra was reflected in the mirror along with my skin which was not yet scarred by any wounds.  The knife was back in my hand, this time held firmly and securely. I knew I had to do it, so taking a breath I raised the knife and pressed the blade against the skin just above my heart. It was not going to be a deep wound, just enough for blood to appear. Without thinking about it for long I made a quick movement that made me take a loud breath. The adrenaline overflowing through me relieved most of the pain, but not completely. I felt the burning rosiness all over my skin, followed by the sensation of blood flowing slowly down the wound. Only then did I let go of the knife to collect as much of the blood as possible on my fingers.               

With my other hand, I turned the phone back on and scrolled to the last moment. That is, the words. It took an eternity to copy the text into the translator and see how it was spoken, enough to make the blood flow even more from the wound.

Feeling so much grief and injustice, my mouth opened before my brain had time to encourage me to stop. 

- ሁሉን ቻይ ፍሬዲያ፣ ለእርዳታዎ በመለመን አነጋግርዎታለሁ። ያለኝን ሁሉ እሰጥሃለሁ። ኃይልህን አበድረኝ፤ በምላሹ ራሴን ሁሉ እሰጣችኋለሁ። ቃሎቼን አድምጡ - I said in a trembling voice sure I was reading something wrong, and my fingers began to smear on the mirror, blurring my eyes with blood.

- Please kill as many people as you need, but bring her back to life- I added mindlessly looking at my figure. The silence falling after the last word was deafening and frustrating. Almost as if I were not in my room, but in solitary confinement. My throat tightened by the renewed urge to cry. 

- I want her back, I just want to see her- I whispered rubbing my face, accidentally smearing the remaining blood on my cheeks. 

The throbbing wound forced me to look in the mirror again, I don't even know when the blood slowed down and I didn't look at the wound after lifting my gaze. I couldn't when instead of my reflection I saw a black figure. Only then did it occur to me what I had actually done. 

- oh my god- I screamed, taking a step back, but still looking at something that should have been my reflection. My heart did not have a moment's peace, it was again beating as fast as before. 

- this is not possible- I muttered watching as something looking like a black mist disappeared more and more, showing my figure, as if nothing had happened. After a second, my reflection seemed completely normal, until I looked into my own eyes. I thought I was hallucinating because of everything that was happening when I looked at my face. My eyebrows furrowed and my head tilted slightly, checking to see if the reflection was really mine. 

It seemed that everything was ok, everything except my eyes. In the reflection, they were completely white. There were no irises in them. It must have been my imagination. 

Still filled with anxiety, I moved back to the front, slowly returning to the same spot as just before, perfectly in front of the mirror. 

The empty eyes that were supposed to be mine seemed to invade my soul, creating a pressure in me that I had never felt.

- What the fuck- I muttered moving even closer against everything my brain was telling me. The closer I got to my reflection the more it seemed to me that it wasn't me. 

Only when I was only a few inches from the glass did I realize how much of a mistake my grief had driven me into. 

My reflection tilted its head to the side with a mocking smile on its face and everything that happened next was too fast for me to react. 

My reflection's hands came out of the mirror and grabbed my hair, pulling my head hard against the mirror, hitting it and shattering it. 

The shattering glass being so close wounded my face and almost robbed me of my sight. 

Despite the blood now flowing in waves, I pushed myself away with my residual strength from the shards of glass and the now empty frame of the mirror. 

- no, no, no- I repeated trying to get up despite my shaking legs to run out of that room, but as soon as I rose to my feet, I felt my stomach clench so hard that I threw up the second breakfast I had eaten at school. In addition to the disgusting mixture, blood also flowed from my mouth. It was so sudden and powerful that it shook my whole body. I looked at it in horror and the sobbing now resembled a lament. 

- please don't- I screamed trying to reach the door, through my hand then such a tremendous pain passed as if someone had just broken it. I screamed falling to my knees and pressed it to my chest. 

- this can't be happening! What the fuck!- I shouted into the emptiness of my room. I did not get an answer. 

I only felt the pain from my hand being replaced by a headache that was like drilling a hole in my skull. I couldn't do anything but scream and try to free myself from this state while still curled up on the floor. 

- STOP IT- I screamed writhing from the ever-present pain I felt as if fire was burning my muscles, my head was filled with pressure and my mouth was filled with blood that I had to spit out to keep from choking. 

I don't know when my vision began to blur until the ability to see disappeared. I couldn't get rid of the feeling of losing connection with my body, as if I was being ripped away, all combined with endless suffering. 

The whole thing lasted maybe a few minutes until it quieted down completely. Everything. All the pain. All the blood flowing, the nausea. All that was left was nothingness. 

Through the fact that there were no longer any distractions, I could feel the fact that I could not move my own body. At all. 

Despite the desire to move my hands, or at least my head, I couldn't do it. It was as if I was in a conscious dream, paralyzed. 

I tried to say something, to call out to someone again in the silence of the house, my mouth remained closed. What was different was my eyes. I felt them open, without my control. 

My fingers began to move, I no longer felt the pain that previously radiated in my right hand. 

My whole body acted as if it didn't feel pain. It seemed as if my head was looking around before my body began to slowly rise. I couldn't do anything about it, I couldn't interfere. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

I was just an observer.

- Thank you for letting me in. I will fulfill your words.- I heard a voice that once belonged to me, now sounding much more hollow. 

Immediately after that, I felt another strange sensation, and an image of what was happening to my body was revealed before my eyes. 

This thing... It really turned me into just an observer. 

- Let me out!- I screamed, watching in horror as someone controlling my body reached for one of my shirts lying on the floor. In the shards of glass I could see "my" reflection. My skin had lost its natural appearance, it looked almost gray, and my eyes were empty. Zero irises. White space alone. 

Blood was still everywhere, running down my face and chest. 

- You wanted this. You made it happen. I'll bring your mother.- replied the figure pretending to be me acting as if it owned my body. These words crushed me. 

- I take it back! It was a mistake!- I shouted trying unsuccessfully to regain control. "I" reached another time towards the floor, this time for a knife lying under other shards of glass. My mother would not want this, would not want me to bring her back by force. Why did I do that? 

- Too late.- That's all that came out of "my" mouth before my body started heading toward the stairs. I tried to fight with all my might, but it was no use. My figure easily passed through the living room without even looking at anything other than the exit door from behind which I could hear someone's conversation. If I had control of my heart it would have stopped at that moment. 

My neighbor Riley and Aunt Margaret. 

- Don't hurt them!-I shouted into the darkness I was after. "I" reached for the lock and opened it, then doing the same with the door. 

They immediately turned their gaze in our direction with worry. 

The other neighbors had already returned to their homes, but they were definitely watching. I wanted to warn them, tell them to run away, my voice was nothing. 

- Daphne! Honey I'm so sorry- Said Margaret coming up to "me" to pull me into a hug, when she came closer, however, she looked into my eyes, saw them, along with blood.

It was a moment when she suddenly leaned over feeling a piercing pain in her abdomen. 

- I'm fine- replied the figure claiming to be me and grabbed Margaret's arm to hold her down. 

- STOP! - I shouted wanting to close my eyes and not look at it, but SHE, forced me to watch the scene. 

- Daphne- Muttered Margaret at which THAT shook its head. 

- no, I don't think it's her- replied her icy voice, and then grabbed the knife dragging it up her abdomen, creating an extensive wound from which blood flowed. Margaret was unable to get out any words through the pain and blood flowing out of her mouth. 

Riley looking on stood as if frozen in place. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

I wanted her to run away, to tell someone about it, to go back to her daughter, she was unable to. 

Before she could force herself to move it was the figure already at her side. 

- You can't tell the police about the wrong person- muttered the monster, and plunged the knife into the side of Riley's neck, piercing her arteries. 

- Why-is the only thing I could repeat after seeing this. I couldn't even cry, because I had no way to cry.

The monster in charge of my body only smiled 

- I return your mother to you.- she said dropping the knife on the ground next to the bodies of the women. 

All I could do was watch as my body began to walk away from the place that was my home, toward the next house. 

All I could do was watch. 

Pay for my greed.